New to medicare prescription drug plan

cinnamonsmiles

I went to the county disability and aging program to get help picking a drug plan for medicare. I pay 38.20/month for an Aetna drug plan. I had to get pain patches and they paid nothing on the $200 bill. Now I got my gabapentin pain pills and they only paid $1.26 on a $26 prescription. I feel like I have been ripped off. I have not done research into this company and got little if any info in my info mailed from them. Does anyone else have better medicare prescription drug plans?

I am so P*&ssed off about this. I already have a anxiety disorder and this just makes it worse.

lauri

Sounds like you should call the insurance co. and find out exactly what's in the plan you signed up for -- many RX plans have an annual deductible, so that may be why the first $200 is all out-of-pocket. 

If you don't like your current coverage, we're coming up on a period when you can switch for 2012.  Check out the plans in your area using Medicare.gov -- you can compare premiums, deductibles,  estimated out-of-pocket costs for each RX you'll be using.

I got the cheapest (Wal-Mart Humana) but I pay out-of-pocket for my Arimidex (generic anastrozole) at Costco because I won't hit the $310/year deductible on what I'm using now -- but the insurance is there in case I get switched to something hugely expensive.

cinnamonsmiles

Lauri, thanks so much for responding. I was not given any of this info when I was looking at the plans online. What a crappy plan. According to them, I have spent over $400 in 11 days on prescriptions. I knew I was over $200 but not that much.  I will have to investigate. I also found out that they have an initial coverage limit. I am not exactly sure what that means, but will find out. If that is the max they will pay in a year it is truly a useless plan. I really wish I could see this stuff BEFORE  I pick a plan. I can't believe this cuz I even had help from the county aging and disability medicare specialist.  Beware of Aetna, at least in central WI. I am definitely looking for a new prescription drug plan. I just don't have the energy nor the brain function to handle this. I am not sure I trust that woman from the county. I even asked her about that plan cuz it sounded too good to be true. There is so much I am learning that that woman didn't go over with me. I am so frustrated and feel like I need a xanax everytime I get into this. Not good for my severe anxiety disorder.

bcincolorado

I am not on Medicare but DH is.  When he went on, (he has many health problems) I called his many docs offices and talked to the staff to ask their opinions on the plans offered in our area.  All of them recommended the same one, so we chose that one.  It was not the cheapest, and is definitely not the most advertised here, but we have not have problems getting claims paid for hospital visits, etc.  Apparently there is more to it and some require a lot of pre-authorizations to be done and it can cause delays in treatments.

Yes, definitely look at Medicare.gov and plug in the information.  I just saw a commercial tonight that "open period" for changing is extended this year and coming up I think in October.