3 Tips for Choosing a New Medicare Part D Plan During Open Enrollment

The Medicare open enrollment period occurs each fall. It starts on October 15th and lasts until December 7th.

During this time, current enrollees may make changes to their prescription drug coverage. And this could lead to nice savings for the coming year.

It’s especially important to try to reduce your medication costs if you’re having trouble stretching your limited retirement income. Social Security just announced that benefits will only increase by 2.5% in 2025. So it’s worth doing everything you can to maintain savings, and transitioning to a new Part D plan could achieve that goal.

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But choosing a new Part D plan can be daunting. With that in mind, here are some navigation tips.

1. See what changes are being made to your current plan

Medicare Part D drug plans can change from year to year. At this point, you should have received a notification from your current plan informing you of any changes for 2025. If you have not received this notification, contact your plan administrator immediately.

In fact, your current Part D plan may change for the better. If this is the case, switching to a new plan may not be necessary. But you can’t make that decision without having all the information.

2. Find out if you will change medications

Medicare Part D plans use formularies to classify medications into different tiers. The higher the level, the higher the out-of-pocket payout.

Before you can make a wise decision about a Part D drug plan, you need to know what your full medication list looks like. To do this, contact your providers and ask what they would like to do with your prescriptions. If your doctor wants you to start taking a new pill in January, you need to know now.

3. Use Medicare’s plan finder to narrow down your choices

Medicare’s Plan Finder is a tool that allows you to see which Part D plans are available in your zip code. And the beauty of this tool is that it allows you to enter your specific medications and dosages to see what you can expect to pay with different plans.

Once you get a list of available plans in your area, pay attention to their ratings. Medicare Part D plans are rated from one to five stars, with five being an optimal rating.

You don’t automatically have to stay away from tariffs with worse ratings. However, you may want to do some research before moving forward with a plan that doesn’t have at least three stars.

Choosing a Part D plan for 2025 is one of the most important financial moves you could make in the coming weeks. So take the time to carefully consider your options. Even though Medicare open enrollment doesn’t close until early December, you shouldn’t wait too long to start checking out Part D plans. The sooner you start, the less stressed you will be as you work through your decisions.

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