Prescription drugs

[Freewill]

A person is not required to sign up for part D of SS medicare. Part D being prescription drugs. So if a person doesn't when initially eligible they may end up paying a small tax if they do in the future.

So if you don't sign up when you are eligible for medicare and purchase a medicare advantage plan what are your options?

Tamsulosin is a drug that is routinely prescribed for older adults so I used that one drug. If I were to just go to a drugstore to buy that drug it will cost 90 dollars per month, retail price. Although that is what the pharmacy told me I think they were wrong to charge full price for medicare patients.

IF an internet website is used then the drug can be found for about 2 dollars a pill and you can get that price at almost any pharmacy.

IF I go to the Canadian drug website the pill can be bought for about 38 cents. But technically importing drugs from Canada is against the law. So I found out about an App onerx. If you type in the drug name it will find where it is the cheapest within your area. When that was done the price that could be found were comparable to those from Canada although the Canadian price is cheaper. The problem with onerx is that if you are using more than one drug that other drugs may not be less at that pharmacy, it varies quite a bit. Between drugs.

So I think a person could save a little money not signing up for Part D. That is if they never need a lot of expensive drugs. I am not sure why the insurance agents would even suggest a plan without drug coverage.

Any thoughts?

 

[Arianrhod]

I'm not aware that there's a penalty for not signing up for Part D (would be interested if you could provide some information). It wouldn't make sense, because people who only sign up for Part A and Part B usually are on fixed incomes and don't have the luxury of paying a private insurer for drugs they may or not need.

The problem is that as people age, they develop chronic illnesses - diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, etc. - that require multiple and often expensive medications. So they're caught between a rock and a hard place. Often they'll split their meds and take them only half as often, ending up in the ER (which Medicare will cover) or in life-saving surgery (which Medicare will also cover), thus costing the thin-skinned "People Want Free Stuff -WAAAAAHHH" taxpayer much more than the drugs would cost.

If taxpayers were educated, if Medicare covered everyone over age 65 (never mind the Part A, Part B [what ever happened to Part C?] and Part D, older people would live healthier lives and whiny ignorant taxpayers would have one less thing to whine about as they happily shell out for more expensive unnecessary wars overseas (I can't believe there are some posters here who believe Vietnam was ever a threat to the USA, but ya learn something about the Lowest Common Denominator every day).

A healthy, productive America is a strong America and usually a smart America that isn't looking for Saddam under the bed every night. IMO.

 

[Freewill]

I'm not aware that there's a penalty for not signing up for Part D (would be interested if you could provide some information). It wouldn't make sense, because people who only sign up for Part A and Part B usually are on fixed incomes and don't have the luxury of paying a private insurer for drugs they may or not need.

The problem is that as people age, they develop chronic illnesses - diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, etc. - that require multiple and often expensive medications. So they're caught between a rock and a hard place. Often they'll split their meds and take them only half as often, ending up in the ER (which Medicare will cover) or in life-saving surgery (which Medicare will also cover), thus costing the thin-skinned "People Want Free Stuff -WAAAAAHHH" taxpayer much more than the drugs would cost.

If taxpayers were educated, if Medicare covered everyone over age 65 (never mind the Part A, Part B [what ever happened to Part C?] and Part D, older people would live healthier lives and whiny ignorant taxpayers would have one less thing to whine about as they happily shell out for more expensive unnecessary wars overseas (I can't believe there are some posters here who believe Vietnam was ever a threat to the USA, but ya learn something about the Lowest Common Denominator every day).

A healthy, productive America is a strong America and usually a smart America that isn't looking for Saddam under the bed every night. IMO.

Part D late enrollment penalty | Medicare.gov