If you are approaching 65 years of age, you may be considering Medicare for either your main source of health insurance or for supplemental purposes. Medicare has three parts and one of these parts is financial assistance for prescription medication.
When you apply for Medicare through the Social Security Administration, you will find out that you can have health insurance coverage for doctors’ visits, hospital visits, and prescription medication. However, before you jump up for joy, there are limitations to the amount Medicare will pay and you may be paying for more than you suspect.
With Medicare Part D, prescription assistance, you will need to choose a health insurance company under Medicare. This company will be responsible for helping you pay for your prescriptions. However, before you choose one of these providers, you need to review each policy’s premiums, co-pays and deductibles. You may have to pay a high premium if you have expensive prescriptions or you will end up paying a lot out of pocket each time you need a refill or new medication. Furthermore, there is a gap in which Medicare will not pay for your prescription. This gap changes each year and you can find out what that is on the Medicare.org website.
Once you reach the gap, you will have to pay all prescriptions out of pocket, once you are out of the gap, Medicare picks up the cost again. However, what if you can’t pay for your prescriptions while in the gap? Read tomorrow’s post for information on how to continue getting your medication at a reduced cost while you are in the Medicare gap.
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Tue, Jun 23, 2009
Health Insurance