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________________________________________________________ So then, what should you do? Ultimately this must be your decision. The government has made you a gambler. Will you need great amounts of medication or not? But here is our conclusion: Plan D is a program for catastrophic coverage. It starts to take on significant value for those who spend in excess of $7,500 per year on medications, and it becomes very valuable for those spending $10,000 per year or more. At all levels below $7,500, it is about a wash. Only the insurance and drug companies are joyful at those levels. The program may partially have been encouraged by drug companies, wanting to stem the widespread practice of buying deeply discounted drugs from Canadian sources. Perhaps this is why you cannot count any drugs you get from a Canadian source as helping you reach a Part D expenditure level. In our examples we used a 30% Canadian discount as a guide. We hear reports that some drugs are discounted much more than this. If you would never buy from a Canadian source, then the program may be valuable for you at a lower expenditure level than $7,500. Why are Canadian sources for the exact same drugs, manufactured in the exact same factories, so much cheaper? Because the Canadian government negotiates lower prices from the drug companies on behalf of its citizens. If our senators and representatives get the drug and insurance lobbyists out of their offices, they will negotiate too. A lot of grease is flowing in Washington when hundreds of billions of dollars in profits are at stake. We---The People---need not put up with this crooked process. Email your elected officials and demand a change. But how do we respond to the Part D program as it already exists today? SeniorARK feels that at the very least we all need to buy the cheapest plan available in our state, even if we don't need the medications today. This will protect us from the accelerating penalties the government has imposed to persuade us to sign up now. We can change the plan we choose, at the end of any year if our need for medication increases. And if we do need a lot of medications today, then we should investigate plans with a representative from our state to see which one best meets our needs. Every state employs people to help us make these comparisons. We may even find that we qualify for extra help from other Federal or state programs in paying for prescriptions. Other SeniorARK Medicare Articles: Part "D" Fiasco, Part "D"--Compare 2006/2007, Medicare Twilight Zone, "Help! I'm Falling Into the Doughnut Hole", Main Medicare Page Parts A,B,C,D Made Simple
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________________________________________________________ So then, what should you do? Ultimately this must be your decision. The government has made you a gambler. Will you need great amounts of medication or not? But here is our conclusion: Plan D is a program for catastrophic coverage. It starts to take on significant value for those who spend in excess of $7,500 per year on medications, and it becomes very valuable for those spending $10,000 per year or more. It may partially have been encouraged by drug companies wanting to stem the widespread practice of buying deeply discounted drugs from Canadian sources. Perhaps this is why you cannot count any drugs you get from a Canadian source as helping you reach a Part D expenditure level. In our examples we used a 30% Canadian discount as a guide. We hear reports that some drugs are discounted much more than this. If you would never buy from a Canadian source, then the program may be valuable for you at a lower expenditure level than $7,500. Why are Canadian sources for the exact same drugs, manufactured in the exact same factories, so much cheaper? Because the Canadian government negotiates lower prices from the drug companies on behalf of its citizens. If our senators and representatives get the drug and insurance lobbyists out of their offices, they will negotiate too. A lot of grease is flowing in Washington when hundreds of billions of dollars in profits are at stake. We---The People---need not put up with this crooked process. Email your elected officials and demand a change. But how do we respond to the Part D program as it already exists today? SeniorARK feels that at the very least we all need to buy the cheapest plan available in our state, even if we don't need the medications today. This will protect us from the accelerating penalties the government has imposed to persuade us to sign up now. We can change the plan we choose, at the end of any year if our need for medication increases. And if we do need a lot of medications today, then we should investigate plans with a representative from our state to see which one best meets our needs. Every state employs people to help us make these comparisons. We may even find that we qualify for extra help from other Federal or state programs in paying for prescriptions.
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e have read
online, and in the news, that 19 million, or 26 million, or 29
million, or over 31 million have already signed up to participate in
the Medicare Prescription Drug Program, also known as Part
D. No matter which number you believe, it is clear that a
massive group of Seniors have decided to cast their lot with the
program.