down on your growing Medicare costs in 2016?
Medicare Insurance
Standalone Prescription Drug Plans
The number of Part D standalone prescription drug plans will drop 14%, to 10001 plans. This is the smallest number of offerings since Medicare Part D program was created in 2006. However, senior citizens across the country will have a choice of two dozen plans in their state. The drug plan consolidations, which are driving the reductions in choices will likely shift many beneficiaries into lower cost plans, which results in the average premium decline of 2%, to $38.95. Insurers are expected to continue to shift more costs to the beneficiaries in 2015. This percentage of PDP plans with no deductible will decline to 42% from 47%, and, once again, about three quarters of these plans will not offer any coverage in the “donunt hole” the coverage gap in which the beneficiaries are responsible for shouldering a greater share of their drug costs.
