Medicare-less

It's Medicare enrollment time for seniors and the alter-abled if they wish to change their Part D drug plan. Even if you are not currently taking prescription drugs. it behooves you to sign up anyway because of the unfriendly late penalty rules of the drug program...eRobin puts this into perspective

That’s a lifetime penalty. The latest Enron casuality will be going to jail for five and half years. Miss the Part D deadline and you pay the price (straight to the insurance companies) for life!

The sad part is that if you are a healthy senior, and not taking many meds, it is wise to join a Medicare drug program anyway to avoid complicated late penalties. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that your plan covers a specific medication, one that may be needed to save your life. Definitely a catch-22 for ordinary seniors and alter-abled who are not as clairvoyant to know what life saving meds they might need in the future.

The NYT explains how the late penalty fees can be quite significant....

If you haven’t yet signed up and do so in November, you will pay a premium penalty of 7 percent — 1 percent for each month since May. If you wait a year, the premium penalty will be 19 percent, and the average national premium may be higher as well. Furthermore, these penalties are not a one-time matter; they will stay with you as a higher monthly premium for as long as you are in a Part D plan. NYT Link

My supplemental Medicare Program Provider has raised their monthly premium from $51.90 to $69.29 They have also increased the price of medications. Two dollar copays go to $2.15 and five dollar copays go up to $5.35. Not a huge jump with my medications but my monthly premium went up a lot.