{"id":5547,"date":"2012-10-15T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-10-15T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=5547"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:18:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:18:07","slug":"older-adult-ministry-offers-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2012\/older-adult-ministry-offers-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Older Adult Ministry Offers Advice for Getting Best Value for Medicare Part D Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Older adults may be paying more for medications than they need to if they have Medicare Part D coverage for prescription drugs, reports the denomination\u2019s Older Adult Ministry office. The Medicare website offers tools to help choose the best plan for medication needs during open enrollment, Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy entering your medications, you can see the annual cost for all the plans in your area. You may be surprised by what you find,\u201d says Kim Ebersole, director of Older Adult Ministries.<\/p>\n

Ebersole says there are more things to consider when choosing a Part D plan than just the monthly premium. The price a participant pays for medications can vary significantly from plan to plan, so the total cost–premiums plus the price of prescriptions–should be considered when making a decision about a plan.<\/p>\n

It is especially important to make sure all of a participant\u2019s medications are on the formulary (list of drugs covered) for the plan you choose. If they are not, the person may pay full price for those drugs, which can make the cost go up significantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a test comparison between Part D plans for three medications that treat health conditions older adults often experience: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and acid reflux,\u201d Ebersole reported. \u201cI found the annual cost for those medications, plus the plan premiums, ranged from $384 to $3,660 at a retail pharmacy, and from $512 to $3,471 for mail order. That is quite a difference for the same three medications. It pays to do some checking before signing up to ensure you are getting the best value for your money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether signing up for Part D coverage for the first time during the initial enrollment period, or deciding whether to stay with a current plan or switch to another during the open enrollment period, the Medicare website makes it easy to check to see what the total annual costs through Part D insurers will be based on a person\u2019s current medications. Not computer savvy? Call Medicare at 1-800-633-MEDICARE (800-633-4227).<\/p>\n

— Go to www.medicare.gov<\/a> and click on \u201cFind health & drug plans.\u201d
\n— Enter your ZIP code and click on \u201cFind Plans.\u201d
\n— Answer the questions about your current coverage and click on \u201cContinue to Plan Results.\u201d
\n— Follow the directions to enter your drugs. When you have entered all of them, click on \u201cMy Drug List is Complete.\u201d
\n— Select your pharmacies and click \u201cContinue to Plan Results.\u201d
\n— Select \u201cPrescription Drug Plans (with Original Medicare)\u201d and click on \u201cContinue to Plan Results.\u201d
\n— Scroll down to see Prescription Drug Plans. Click on \u201cView 50\u201d to see more plans on your screen.
\n— Choose \u201cLowest Estimated Annual Retail Drug Cost\u201d to sort results, then click \u201cSort\u201d button.
\n— Scroll down the list. The annual prices of both retail pharmacy and mail order are in the left hand column.
\n— You can click on individual plans to see more information about coverage and costs with that plan. You can also select up to three plans at a time to compare pricing by checking the box next to the plans and clicking on \u201cCompare Plans.\u201d
\n— If you decide to remain with your current 2012 plan for 2013, you do not need to do anything. If you wish to switch plans during the open enrollment period (Oct. 15-Dec. 7), you can enroll online by selecting the plan and clicking on \u201cEnroll\u201d or you can enroll by phone with the number provided by the plan.
\n— The tools can also be used when you sign up for Part D for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pays to make sure you are spending your healthcare dollars wisely,\u201d advises Ebersole. \u201cChoosing the plan that covers your medication needs at a lower annual expense is being a good steward of your resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more about the church\u2019s Older Adult Ministries go to www.brethren.org\/oam<\/a> .<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Older adults may be paying more for medications than they need to if they have Medicare Part D coverage for prescription drugs, reports the denomination\u2019s Older Adult Ministry office. The Medicare website offers tools to help choose the best plan for medication needs during open enrollment, Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[806,1256],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-5547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-older-adults"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5549,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions\/5549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5547"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=5547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}