📋 Premiums for Medicare Drug Plans Will Be Less Next Year (AARP Article)

[SummerOnTheWay1]

FROM THE ARTICLE - SEE ARTICLE FOR MORE!!!

Open enrollment for Part D and Medicare Advantage plans begins Oct. 15.

By Kimberly Lankford, AARP. Published September 27, 2024.

Average monthly premiums for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans will decrease in 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Friday.

The average monthly premium for a stand-alone Part D prescription plan is projected to be $40 next year, a decline of $1.63, almost $20 annually.

https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-2024/drug-plan-premiums.html

[GailL1]

@shamit 

It isn’t that they are going around the law, it is just that we (beneficiaries) aren’t speaking the same lingo as CMS and the drug plan insurers and for that matter the drug manufacturers too.

CMS refers to the “base” rate - most plans aren’t base variety- they use the base rate to figure the Part D late enrollment penalty.  Many plans are considered Enhanced because they offer more than just the base - could be any number of design things - a larger formulary, a lesser deductible, some added benefits like an OTC allowance.  

sounds like you are doing the right things - like I have been posting about.   You have to look at the “meat” of the plan not just the premium.  And even if it is called by the same name this year as last year - scrutinize it cause most likely it has changed and those changes maybe something that one needs.

When all of these new benefits are added in - it is great for the people that need them but the rest is paying for it.  

I hope you can find the plan that you need and it is not too expensive.  Sounds like you know exactly what you are doing.  

Good Luck -