Hunting season is open!
Unfortunately, there’s little sport in this hunt: in Medicare enrollment
season, maybe it’s time to hunt down and switch plans.
You may need to draw on your
survival skills for this hunt, too. All evidence points to some serious rate
increases in Medicare prescription drug plans.
As you likely are aware, October
15 marks the first day of the enrollment period that extends until December 7.
Nevertheless, if you haven’t read about the prescription drug increases
elsewhere, a recent article in Reuters
has reported that the potential increases may affect as many as 80% of all
beneficiaries and even generate double digit rate increases for as many as 5.9
million beneficiaries, or 29% of all beneficiaries. Check out the article
titled “As Medicare drug premiums soar, it's time to
shop around.”
So, what’s the take away? “Shop
around,” indeed! Be sure to look beyond the standard big 10 plans, because
eight of the top 10 are showing such increases. For instance, under the Humana
Wal-Mart Preferred Rx increases will be somewhere between 10%-23% for various
beneficiaries.