Seniors Speak Out About What Part D Means to Them

There are about 42 million Americans with Medicare Part D insurance for their medicines. We have different health conditions, take different medicines, live in different states and are covered by hundreds of plans. There is something we do share, however: our understanding of the importance and value of Part D coverage to our health and well-being.Let me be the first to share my story about how and why Part D helps me personally. Before I reached 65, the insurance coverage I had available to me had very limited benefits for medicines, and one of my medicines wasn’t even covered at all. It was stressful and very costly. Now, I have a plan that works perfectly for me, and all my medicines are covered. When I moved three years ago, I was even able to choose a plan that worked with pharmacies in my new neighborhood and still get the same value I had been receiving before.Here are some other stories from your friends and neighbors around the country:Doug from Minnesota first made the change to Part D during open enrollment in the fall of 2016, and noticed that the change saved him $26 a month, on top of not having a co-pay for visits to the clinic. In his own words, for him “drug costs are minimal.” Even better, he is able to fill his prescriptions from his local pharmacy and support their business. As he says, “Being from a small town of 800 people it is critical to support the local pharmacy rather than the mail order system.”Then there is Claudia from Alabama. Claudia has seen just how helpful Part D can be at a couple of different points in her life. The first came during her mother’s illness. Part D was instated while her mother was sick and she was able to see first-hand the “huge difference” that Part D made in her mother’s care. Now that she has it herself, she is happy to have access to it, as it “can really save you money.”Robert from New Hampshire is a lung transplant recipient, which he noted “has drastically changed my views about Medicare Part D.” He and his wife used to get insurance through work, but a sudden change in employment meant they had to find a new plan. Everything they found meant increased drug prices and shorter prescriptions for the medication Robert needed, but his insurance agent eventually recommended Part D, which provided every medication he needed, and on 90-day prescriptions instead of the 30-day ones offered by other plans. By Robert’s own estimates, he now saves between $2,500 and $3,000 every year, in addition to fewer trips to the pharmacy due to the increased prescription length.These are just a sampling of the outpouring of responses we received when we asked people to speak out about how Part D has helped them. These and other stories demonstrate how Part D remains an essential piece to our good health and quality of life.