Medicare prescription plans can help you cover the costs of expensive medications. If you have Medicare coverage, your prescriptions will be covered under Medicare part D of your plan. These are some important things you should know about your coverage.
Medicare Prescription Plans: What Does Medicare Part D Cover?
Prescription Drugs
If you have an illness or injury, you might be prescribed prescription drugs by your doctor. Your doctor is prescribing these to you because they believe that they will be the most effective way to treat what you are going through. Unfortunately, some of these drugs can get expensive.
When you get a Medicare plan for your prescriptions, your prescription drugs will be covered under this plan. Most plans will have a list of specific drugs that they cover. If the drugs that your doctor has prescribed aren’t covered on the list, there is likely to be something similar. If none of these options will work for you, you can ask your representative for an exception.
Generic Drugs
Some Medicare plans also cover generic drugs. You can check with your plan provider to see if generic drugs might be covered under your plan and what drugs, in particular, will be covered. Generic drugs are copies of name-brand drugs. Taking them instead of name-brand drugs may save you some money.
Generic drugs will use the same formula as brand-name drugs, and they’ll have the same dosage amount, safety protocols, and intended use as brand-name drugs. There may be some instances where there is no generic version of a name-brand drug you have been prescribed. If you would like to take a generic drug, talk to your doctor about your options.
The Different Tiers
There’s no denying that even with coverage, drugs can get expensive. To help keep your costs reasonable, many plans will place drugs into different tiers. Drugs in lower tiers will likely cost you less than drugs in higher tiers.
There might be some cases where your doctor tells you that you need a drug in a higher tier rather than a similar drug in a lower tier. If you’re looking to save on costs, you can call your plan representative and ask if you can get an exception and reduce the cost of your payments.
What Else Does Medicare Cover?
Along with drug coverage, your Medicare coverage can help you with a range of other things too. If you need to receive inpatient care at a hospital, you require home health care, or you need nursing home care, there are some plans that can help you.
You can also receive coverage for things like medically necessary services which include ambulances, medical equipment, inpatient and outpatient coverage for mental health-related conditions, and preventative services to help keep conditions from becoming more serious.
There comes a time in many people’s lives when they need a prescription for something. To save on prescription costs, a Medicare coverage plan can help a lot. Your doctor and Medicare representative will have more information on how your coverage can help you.