Saint Augustine, FL (PRWEB) September 20, 2012
Q1Medicare.com now offers seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries a preview of the 2013 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Based on the 2013 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Part D landscape data, Q1Medicare.com has released their national and state-by-state interactive 2013 Medicare Part D prescription drug plan summaries. The 2013 stand-alone Medicare Part D plan data analysis can be found directly at PDP-Facts.com/2013 and includes a text summary version of the data analysis for each state.
According to the 2013 CMS Medicare Part D plan data, the average national monthly Medicare prescription drug plan premium will decrease to $ 53.26, just slightly less than the 2012 national monthly premium average of around $ 53.99. However, based on current plan enrollment, about 83% of all Medicare Part D beneficiaries will see an average monthly premium increase of around $ 4 if these beneficiaries stay with their current 2012 prescription drug plan instead of enrolling in another, more affordable 2013 Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan that offers prescription coverage.
Medicare beneficiaries will find almost the same number of stand-alone 2013 Medicare Part D prescription drug plans offered in their area, with an average of 31 plans being offered in each state. However, a number of long-standing plans, offered by Health Net and CCRx will no longer be available in 2013 due to consolidation within the Medicare market.
On a state level, residents of Pennsylvania and West Virginia will have the largest selection of plans in the country with 38 different 2013 Medicare Part D plans available, a slight increase from the 36 Medicare Part D plans offered in 2012. Medicare beneficiaries in Alaska and Hawaii will have only 23 prescription drug plans available, down from 25 plans in 2012. A complete listing of all the 2012 Medicare Part D plans offered in each state can be found at PDP-Finder.com/2013.
Medicare Part D plan designs will also change in 2013 and Medicare beneficiaries might notice a few less Medicare Part D plans offering coverage with the $ 0 (or no) initial deductible. On the other hand, more 2013 Medicare Part D plans will be offering some type of Donut Hole coverage and the monthly premium for a Medicare Part D plan offering Donut Hole coverage will actually decrease in 2013. Although no 2013 Medicare Part D plan offers complete Donut Hole coverage a number plans are offering different variations of brand and generic drug coverage in the Donut Hole. Even without enrolling in a Medicare plan with Donut Hole coverage, seniors will still be able to save some money if they enter the 2013 Coverage Gap portion of their Medicare Part D plan by receiving a 52.5% discount on brand-name drugs and a 21% discount on generic drugs while in the Donut Hole.
In 2013, seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries qualifying for the full Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) or Extra Help program will still find most states offering a number of prescription drug plans qualifying for the $ 0 monthly LIS premium. The state with the largest number of LIS qualifying plans is Arkansas with 15 Medicare Part D plans. Unfortunately, residents of 20 states, including Florida and Texas, will find fewer LIS-qualifying 2013 Medicare Part D plans. Because of changes in the annual Medicare Part D plan premiums and state LIS premium benchmarks, some full-LIS qualifying Medicare beneficiaries may be automatically reassigned to new 2013 plans still qualifying for the $ 0 monthly premium. However, Extra Help recipients who chose their own plan in the past will not be auto-reassigned to a new plan and may need to select a new 2012 Medicare Part D plan that still meets the $ 0 monthly premium threshold.
Our PDP-Facts pages are designed to be interactive so that users can click on the links and view more information directly within our PDP-Finder and PDP-Compare tools, notes Dr. Susan Johnson, Technical Director of the Q1Medicare.com site and co-founder of Q1Group LLC. We will be updating all of our 2013 tools as more coverage information becomes available and will bring the 2013 Medicare Advantage plan information online in the shortly.
Like other Q1Medicare.com tools the PDP-Facts, PDP-Finder, and PDP-Compare tools are available to all site visitors at no cost and designed for computer, smartphone and tablet platforms. Q1Medicare.com reminds seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries that they can enroll in a 2013 Medicare Part D prescription drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period starting Monday, October 15 and continuing through Friday, December 7, 2012.
About the Q1Medicare.com Website
Q1Medicare.com is one of the largest independent online resources for Medicare Part D prescription drug plan and Medicare Advantage plan information. Q1Medicare offers a large selection of Frequently Asked Questions, online tools, and a free Medicare Part D Newsletter all designed to help Medicare beneficiaries, healthcare professionals, advocates, advisers, caregivers, and insurance agents better understand both the Medicare Part D prescription drug and Medicare Advantage programs. Q1Medicare.com is operated by Q1Group LLC (Saint Augustine, Florida).
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