Turning 65 and Your Prescription Drug Load

This is the third of five blog entries where we are answering the question:

I am still working with insurance coverage.What do I need to do about turning 65 and Medicare?

Let’s go over a few things that are going to determine what we will end up doing in the end about Medicare:

- Cost of your current coverage thru your employer (covered in part 4);

- Are you insuring as spouse or a spouse is insuring you (covered in part 5);

- What is your prescription drug load;

- Size of your current employer;

- Are you collecting your Social Security benefit?

Now that we know what we have to consider let’s look at the third point.We will cover the other points in the next two blogs to follow.

Your prescription drug load:

In addition to looking at the cost of your plan and your liabilities, we need to understand the prescription drugs that you take.

Employer coverage often has great prescription drug benefits due to insuring large groups of people with different needs.

Often your prescription drug cost goes toward your liabilities or your out of pocket maximum on an employer plan.This is not the case with Medicare.

A lot of beneficiaries meet their out of pocket max early in the year if they take several medications, especially if they are brand name. We might be able to give you a plan at a lower cost with lower medical risk, but you would end up paying more due to the drugs that you take on a daily basis.

If you go onto a Medicare Supplement Plan coupled with a Medicare Part D stand alone drug plan or a Medicare Advantage plan, then your drug costs do not go toward your out of pocket maximum.Both Part D and Medicare Advantage plans have a coverage gap or donut hole in the drug coverage as well. This is a topic that will be covered in a different blog.

Meeting with one of our agents from Sun Coast Legacy Advisors can help you answer these questions and more.We recommend that if you are getting ready to turn 65 that we get together for our Meet and Greet appointment about 5 to 6 months before you are getting ready to turn 65.We will be able to educate you on your options for coverage and present you with a timeline of key date and benchmarks leading up to starting Medicare at 65.

Turning 65 can be simple and easy.Sun Coast Legacy Advisors is here to help you through the process.Email or Call to schedule your appointment today.

Bill Gay: