Tiers of Sadness...Tiers of Joy: Strategies for Medicare Prescription Drug Plans

By Marc Manor

The plight of those Medicare beneficiaries that take one or more high cost prescription drugs can be challenging; and as with anything in the Medicare Advantage or Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) world, the landscape can be foggy and difficult to sift through to find affordable solutions. Sometimes, it may be possible to save a few dollars if we take the time to research a few variables. Prescription drugs are categorized in “tiers” that relate to the coverage level according to the benefit schedule of each PDP. As a rule, the higher the tier, the more expensive the drugs will be for the consumer (and the plan). I say “as a rule,” because there are some exceptions to the rule if one digs deep enough and searches through several variables.

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Generic vs. Name Brand Drugs

The Value of Max (aka the Scoop on MOOP)

By Marc Manor

With the cost of healthcare and healthcare related insurance getting more expensive each year, it sometimes can be hard to find the value.  Consumers are so overwhelmed with the expense, that the value of their plans is sometimes lost on them.  If a 60-year-old is paying $600 to $800 a month for a high deductible healthcare plan, who can blame them when consider opting out; especially now that the new tax law has removed the individual mandate tax penalty for not having insurance starting in 2019.  Before you go out in the world uncovered or under-covered, let me just take this opportunity to highlight what I call the “value of max” or "the scoop on MOOP".

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Almost everyone hears of the protections for pre-existing conditions that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans have; however, another lesser known protection is the “maximum out of pocket” feature.  Although less well known or talked about, this feature should be of great importance to those who are sitting on the fence when it comes to their 2019 healthcare coverage.