# America's Elder Crisis, Medicare Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 4, 2021, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146 "2021-03-04T05:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/481 "2026-10-15T20:52:12Z")
My heavens, if the temperature in your house rose unexpectedly, it was because of all the blushing occurring when I read the above. Thanks, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/482 "2026-10-23T13:25:28Z")
Re-posting my rant which I erroneously posted in the “Countdown to Retirement” thread: Well, this sucks. I got a letter that my Part D (prescription drug plan) is being discontinued. I have to select a new plan. What’s more, my excellent Medicare broker says she’s no longer able to assist with helping to select plans (no doubt due to new rules established by the current health care turd in office). She provides a link to Medicare’s tool to help you select a new plan, and I think I’ve got it sussed out how it works. It’s a good tool to help you compare costs, based on what drugs you take. But I’m afraid if I choose solely based on price, I’ll end up with an understaffed, error-ridden crappy company. I’m trying to do research on “best companies for Part D coverage”, and it’s more of the same price-only comparisons. Who here loves their Part D company and recommends them? I’ll look and see if they’re on the list of companies that Medicare’s tool provided me, and furthermore, if I can afford them. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/483 "2026-10-23T13:52:14Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > What’s more, my excellent Medicare broker says she’s no longer able to assist with helping to select plans (no doubt due to new rules established by the current health care turd in office). Hopefully your [state health insurance program](https://shiphelp.org) will still talk to you? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/484 "2026-10-23T14:52:49Z")
> [@abcdefghij](#): > > Hopefully your [state health insurance program](https://shiphelp.org) will still talk to you Or your local Area Agency on Aging? > **[Elder Care | Home](https://eldercare.acl.gov/home)** > > Home In the past both resources have helped me when I needed to choose a new drug plan. Both are free and neither will try to sell you any thing. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/485 "2026-10-23T15:42:40Z")
We’ve had an Advantage plan since we retired, and we liked it very much. The plan just departed from our state so I’ve been doing research. In addition to HMO and PPO, there’s a type of plan called HMO-POS, which basically sounds like a PPO. Just wanted to mention it to people. We’ve loved our PPO and our new plan will be HMO-POS. We live in an area famous for its medical care, and everyone we use is in-network, although with HMO-POS we do have the option to use out-of-network providers as well. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/486 "2026-10-23T16:29:50Z")
Spouse and I have been on traditional Medicare a bit over 3 years. The Part D provider we’ve been on has a roughly 3.5 star rating in our state; there are some rated higher this year. For our experience, with (thankfully) no in-patient events, we don’t interact with them, at all, ever. We pay whatever the plan specifies (often $0) unless or until we reach the maximum out-of-pocket. A particular IV bone density improvement drug, Prolia, is not covered at all, but there are alternatives. So based on our experience I’d suggest using the tool and buy based on price (and be sure to enter your preferred pharmacies) unless the cheapest is rated 1 star or something abysmal. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/487 "2026-10-24T21:28:34Z")
Agree. My Part D just works. Zero interaction for 2 years now. Unlike health insurance, it’s not based on either a pre-approval or a reimbursement model. You pay the price the computer says to pay, whether retail or mail order, and that’s the end of it. So there’s not much place in the transaction for the company to be evil or incompetent without failing completely. FWIW, Here in FL I have been using what has been a zero cost plan from this outfit: **[2027 Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) | Wellcare](https://www.wellcare.com/en/explore-plans/prescription-drug-plans)**. For 2027 the price is up to $5/month. Bastards. For FL & me at least, they use Express Scripts for the mail order and every retail pharmacy of every major brand is in-network. CVS, Walgreens, and all the major grocery store chains. Including Target, which is really CVS anyway. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146/488 "2026-10-25T03:18:50Z")
Interesting. I had nothing but trouble with ExpressScripts when they administered my employer’s drug benefit. Endless rounds of written approvals for drugs, and annoying letters telling us that because it was more convenient to get drugs directly from them, they would no longer let us buy them locally. Like, my boss smuggled Omeprazole from India for me, because i couldn’t get ExpressScripts to authorize it. (I later found i could buy it cheaply on Amazon. Small quantities are OTC, but small quantities are also expensive per pill.) As Medicare looms in my future, it’s good to know that a company allied with ExpressScripts isn’t screwing you over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146.md?page=24)