People enrolled in Part A and Part B of Medicare must also have prescription drug coverage. Otherwise, they may later have to pay lifetime late-enrollment penalties. Their drug coverage can come from employer supplemental plans, Part D stand-alone plans, Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage, or Veterans Administration drug coverage.
Individuals can often lower their drug costs regardless of the type of plan they have. Among other steps they can take, they should use the least-cost refill schedule (retail or mail-order). If they are enrolled in a Part D plan (either a stand-alone plan or an Advantage plan that includes Part D coverage), it's important that they review the plan during each year's open enrollment period. Several large studies have shown that almost 90% of people in Part D stand-alone plans are not in a low-cost plan.
The only way to find the lowest-cost Part D plan for a specific set of drugs is to use the Medicare Plan Finder at the Medicare web site. Or call 800-MEDICARE or contact the local state health insurance program, which will conduct a plan search at no cost. Those who want to do it themselves can use the Medicare Part D Plan Finder using the instructions in the files at the bottom of this page.
This file has step-by-step instructions for using the Medicare web site to find the lowest-cost Part D plans for the prescription drugs that you take.