New Medicare Drug Plan

Personal Column

Mary L

Mary Loftis

oftis

UNL Extension Assistant

January 3, 2014

Your New Medicare Drug Plan – Now What?

You’ve got your new Medicare prescription drug plan card for 2014. You need to have a prescription filled…now what?

Changing Pharmacies:

If you decided when comparing plans it would be worth your time and money to change pharmacies you may need to plan ahead a little.

• You may call or go to your doctor and say you are changing pharmacies and ask for new prescriptions. They may offer to call the new pharmacy with your prescriptions rather than giving you a paper copy.
• Or bring your current prescription bottle or container to your new pharmacy. Tell them you would like to switch your prescription to their pharmacy and they will call your old pharmacy and transfer the prescription(s).
• If you forget and go to your former pharmacy when you meant to go to a different one, don’t worry about it. You signed up for a drug plan, not a particular pharmacy. You may have a larger co-pay at your old pharmacy, but you can change pharmacies next month to get the savings the rest of the year.

Going to the Pharmacy:

When you go to the pharmacy have your new Medicare prescription drug plan card with you and give it to the pharmacist. That way you can make sure the pharmacy has the correct information for your new plan. The pharmacist will check your information on the computer and there should be no problem filling your prescription. It’s a good idea to write on your new card 2014 so you remember it’s the new card since the plans rarely put the year on their cards. Also, you can clean out your billfold and get rid of any old prescription drug plan cards.

Picking Up Your Prescriptions:

When you pick up your prescription you may or may not have a co-pay to get your prescription depending on your drugs and your plan. If you have a deductible you may need to pay up to $310 of the full cost of your prescriptions before you start getting the good out of your drug plan.

Paying the Premium:

Paying the premium raises other questions:

• You may have decided to pay your premiums by check, but the drug plan has not sent a coupon book or a bill. Don’t worry about it too much. The drug plans are more concerned about getting everyone their plan cards and information so they can get their prescriptions when they need them. After the rush is over they will get to the billing portion of their job and then you’ll need to pay the bill.

• If you want to pay the bill using an Electronic Funds Transfer through your bank you will need to set that up with the prescription drug plan. This will include filling out the plan’s form and providing a voided check. You may need to contact your plan to initiate this type of payment if they didn’t send you the form with your initial information.

• You may have had the premium held out of your Social Security.  If you already received a Social Security Summary stating the wrong company and premium amount for your Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, don’t worry. This information was sent out before all the details were finished on Open Enrollment. They will correct it and send the right amount to the right company probably by March. Keep an eye on it, but don’t let it upset you if you still have too much being deducted and going to the wrong company. Social Security should correct it before too long.

It’s a new year with your Medicare prescription drug plan. If you have questions don’t be afraid to ask your pharmacist, or you may call the Senior Health Insurance Information Program at 1-800-234-7119 or SHIIP Volunteer, Mary Loftis at 402-374-2929.

Mary Loftis,

Extension Assistant
UNL Extension – Burt County
111 North 13th Street, Suite 6
Tekamah, NE 68061
Phone: (402) 374-2929

Fax: (402) 374-2930

Internet: mloftis2@unl.edu