That's true for any health insurance policy, not just Medicare drug plans. 1, said Fred Riccardi, president of the Medicare Rights Center, which helps seniors access Medicare benefits.ĭrug manufacturers usually change the list price for drugs in January and occasionally again in July, "but they can increase prices more often," said Stacie Dusetzina, an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. "Your plan may raise the copayment or coinsurance you pay for a particular drug when the manufacturer raises their price, or when a plan starts to offer a generic form of a drug," the Medicare website warns.īut no matter how high the prices go, most plan members can't switch to cheaper plans after Jan. Medicare officials acknowledge that manufacturers' prices and the out-of-pocket costs charged by an insurer can fluctuate. Researchers found that the list prices for the 75 brand-name drugs most frequently prescribed to Medicare beneficiaries had risen as much as 8%. 7 sign-up deadline - and the end of January 2022, just a month after new Medicare drug plans began. Griffith's prescription out-of-pocket cost has varied each month, and through March, she has already paid $433 more than she expected to.Ī recent analysis by AARP, which is lobbying Congress to pass legislation to control drug prices, compared drugmakers' list prices between the end of December 2021 - shortly after the Dec. 7, insurance plans can change what they charge members for drugs - and they can do it repeatedly. As early as three weeks after Medicare's drug plan enrollment period ends on Dec. And they're going to make sure I get the drug for a certain amount."īut it often doesn't work that way. "I say I will pay the premium on time for this plan. "To me, when you purchase a plan, you have an implied contract," she said. "I didn't pick it up because I thought something was wrong," said Griffith, 73, a retired construction company accountant who lives in the Northern California town of Weaverville. But instead of the $70.09 she expected to pay for her dextroamphetamine, used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, her pharmacist told her she owed $275.90. She picked a Humana drug plan for its low prices, with help from her longtime insurance agent and the Medicare Plan Finder, an online pricing tool for comparing a dizzying array of options. Something strange happened between the time Linda Griffith signed up for a new Medicare prescription drug plan during last fall's enrollment period and when she tried to fill her first prescription in January.
She supports giving Medicare authority to negotiate drug prices. Retiree Donna Weiner shows some of the daily prescription medications for which she pays more than $6,000 per year through a Medicare prescription drug plan.
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