{"id":27177,"date":"2023-10-16T16:43:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T16:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/personal-finance\/retirement\/the-inflation-reduction-act-has-made-this-years-medicare-open-enrollment-more-important-than-ever\/"},"modified":"2023-10-16T16:43:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T16:43:13","slug":"the-inflation-reduction-act-has-made-this-years-medicare-open-enrollment-more-important-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=27177","title":{"rendered":"The Inflation Reduction Act Has Made This Year\u2019s Medicare Open Enrollment More Important Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Do an internet search on the Inflation Reduction Act. You\u2019ll find several sites that mention deficit and carbon emissions reduction, investment in domestic energy production, and Medicare prescription drug negotiation. Buried somewhere in the text of the act is one change that will have an immediate impact in 2024: the elimination of the 5% coinsurance in the Catastrophic Coverage drug payment stage.<\/p>\n

Most probably have no idea what this means. Briefly:<\/p>\n

The question is how<\/strong><\/p>\n

If drug plans have to pay that much next year, what will this mean to the other 49 million with drug coverage who will not reach Catastrophic Coverage? Now that the Medicare Plan Finder includes 2024 plans, I decided to spend a little time to see whether I could get some answers. (A little soon turned into a lot of time.) I compared the 2023 and 2024 plan details for 65 Part D stand-alone drug plans in one ZIP code in three cities: Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Milwaukee. (This year, there are seven plans that won\u2019t be around in 2024.)<\/p>\n

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Before sharing some of the discoveries, know that this is not a scientific study, and the findings are not statistically significant. Rather, I wanted to identify any changes and figure out how much a change might cost you, the drug plan member. My objective: Convince every Medicare beneficiary to review drug coverage during this year\u2019s Open Enrollment Period. <\/em><\/p>\n

Cost sharing <\/strong><\/p>\n

As could be expected, there were some significant changes in cost sharing, the share of costs covered by the insurance company that you pay out of pocket. Once you\u2019ve paid your premium and met any deductible, these two costs are the most important.<\/p>\n