Fall Open Enrollment is the time of year when you can change your Medicare coverage. If you reenroll in a plan during open enrollment, your coverage starts January 1. In most cases, Fall Open Enrollment is the only time you can pick a new Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plan.<\/p>\n
Medicare Part D, also called the Medicare prescription drug benefit, is a United States federal government program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs and prescription drug insurance premiums for Medicare beneficiaries. It was enacted as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (which also made changes to the public Part C Medicare health plan program) and went into effect on January 1, 2006. <\/p>\n
Individuals on Medicare are eligible for prescription drug coverage under a Part D plan if they are signed up for benefits under Medicare Part A and\/or Part B. Beneficiaries obtain the Part D drug benefit through two types of plans administered by private insurance companies: the beneficiaries can join a stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) for drug coverage only, or they can join a public Part C health plan that jointly covers all hospital and medical services covered by Medicare Part A and Part B at a minimum, and typically covers additional healthcare costs not covered by Medicare Parts A and B including prescription drugs (MA-PD).<\/p>\n
Generally, not all drugs are covered at the same out of pocket cost to the beneficiary. This gives participants incentives to choose certain drugs over others. This is most often implemented \u2013 as is the case for drug coverage for those not on Medicare \u2013 through incentives to use generic drugs over brand-name drugs. The incentive is also often implemented via a system of tiered formularies in which some brand-name drugs are less expensive than others and not subject to step therapy.<\/p>\n