If you haven’t looked at your Medicare benefits for 2023 NOW is the time! The open enrollment period ends on December, 7th. This probable seems like an odd “health” topic to many of you but it may be one of the most important decisions that you make all year! As a provider, it is often VERY hard to treat a disease, such as diabetes, because the newer, better, drugs are very expensive and aren’t’t covered by many traditional Medicare plans. I frequently, have to make decisions everyday based on denials from the insurance, and almost always they are not in the patients best interest unfortunately. Insurance has a way of “telling” us what to do by the way of our pocketbooks! You may say to yourself, I’m not on any expensive meds, I don’t need “good Med D coverage”. Well, that’s almost like buying a 1.9 billion dollar lottery ticket! You may not, but if you have yourself a nice little stroke or heart attack in the next year, you will probably need that Cadillac blood thinner—ask your friends, they know they aren’t cheap! A lot of them are upwards of $400 a month. I don’t know many seniors that can afford that. I frequently see patients that didn’t take out good coverage that end up on expensive medications before the end of the year.
While you don’t have to take out a supplement, these are just my cautionary tales. Another thing that frequently happens is that they take out the “free” plan and feel covered. They always tell me that they get “their medicine for free”. Well, that is true, if the medicine is dirt cheap to begin with, but if you do end up on an expensive med, you will pay. MY ADVICE, PAY A LITTLE MORE UP FRONT ON THE PLAN! IN MOST INSTANCES THIS WILL RESULT IN CHEAPER DRUG COSTS FOR HIGH-END MEDS! You will probably still spend less than you would for the copays on the drugs. If you end up a diabetic—you want the newer drugs!!
New for 2023, Medicare caps insulin at $35 a month without tying it to a deductible. This is wonderful news for insulin dependent diabetics. Also, recommended vaccines are now co-pay free.
The next open enrollment period begins January 1st and end March 31st.
http://medicare.gov is the place to go to research Medicare and https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d discusses Medicare drug coverage and options. If you are still confused and need additional help, your senior center can provide additional information as well as your insurance agent.
Sources: https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d https://www.medicare.gov/
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