# Shopping for Medicare Part D plans--am I missing something? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 12, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-for-medicare-part-d-plans-am-i-missing-something/1033780 "2026-10-12T14:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-for-medicare-part-d-plans-am-i-missing-something/1033780/2 "2026-10-12T15:28:05Z")
I’m surprised that you’re able to find 2027 plans right now. Everything I’ve seen tells me that you can shop for new plans beginning October 15. ETA: I just logged onto the Medicare site, and, yes, I can already shop for Part D plans. So thanks for the heads-up! It’s been my experience that, yes, Part D plans can vary widely in their cost and coverage. And I’ve always chosen the cheapest one; thus far, with no repercussions. There’s an ongoing discussion about All Things Medicare in the link below. It might be better to participate in that thread, rather than opening a new one. > [@America's Elder Crisis, Medicare Edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-elder-crisis-medicare-edition/937146): > > They call, or we call them, an inexhaustible stream of elderly, disabled, and/or poor Americans, all with their stories to tell. Different in the details of course, but in the aggregate a theme develops, a daily oral history of a shattered medical insurance system, not broken because of governmental incompetence but of an insane ideological commitment to “choice” and “competition” and “the market” even in areas where these ideas do not belong. And it has been my experience in the private Medica… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shopping-for-medicare-part-d-plans-am-i-missing-something/1033780)._