Review Your Medicare Part D Drug Coverage Every Year

If you're enrolled in Medicare, reviewing your Medicare Part D drug plan during the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period isn't just a good idea — it's one of the most consequential financial decisions you can make each year. 

Why does it matter so much? Here are just a few of the reasons why an annual review is worth your time:

• Drug makers could have renegotiated their pricing agreements with various Part D plans — including yours. Competing plans may now offer lower prices on the medications you take. If you don't ask, you could be paying more than necessary.
• Your current plan provider may have changed the coverage level it offers for specific drugs — sometimes quietly, sometimes dramatically.
• You may have added new prescriptions over the past year that weren't part of your medication list when you last chose your plan. Those drugs deserve the same scrutiny as the rest. 
• Generic or over-the-counter alternatives may now exist for some of the brand-name drugs you're currently taking — alternatives that could reduce your out-of-pocket costs significantly. 
• Your plan may have changed how it structures the coverage gap — sometimes called the "donut hole" — and those changes, combined with calendar-year dynamics, could mean you end up paying more throughout the year than you would under a different plan.

How Much Can You Save?

The potential upside of this annual review is real and substantial. Some beneficiaries save as much as 200% to 300% after reviewing their drug coverage and switching to a plan that better covers their specific medications. 

That kind of savings doesn't happen by accident — it happens because someone took the time to actually compare their current plan against what else is available. It's worth doing every single year.

How Can You Review Medicare Plans?

Start by making a complete, current list of every prescription medication you take — including anything new you've started in the past twelve months. 

You could then call individual insurance companies that offer competing Part D plans and ask them how each one covers your specific drugs. That approach works, but it's time-consuming and difficult to compare across plans in a structured way. 

There is a better, faster, and more comprehensive way to conduct your review.

Simply enter the names of the prescription drugs you take into a plan comparison tool and see exactly how each available plan covers those medications. 

You'll see how much each plan pays each month for the drugs on your list. You'll learn whether generic alternatives are now available that could lower your costs. And you'll be able to compare copayments across plans side by side — including how those costs shift throughout the year as you move through different coverage phases. (Remember: what you pay for prescriptions can change significantly from one month to the next depending on where you are in the coverage cycle.)

If lowering what you spend on medications is a priority — and for most Medicare beneficiaries, it should be — the path forward is clear.