Call the company and ask. There should be a month-by-month feature in the online process.

The folks on the phone gets lots of practice explaining things. You aren't alone on this.

I think this is a question that would be best answered by your insurer.

If you wait for open enrollment to start (October 15th) you will be able to do your own plan comparison on Medicare.gov. Sometimes just switching the pharmacy will make a huge difference in costs.

This doesn't answer your question, but I also was on Advair for a long while until it got very expensive and in fact my insurance eventually wouldn't pay for it. So my doctor switched me to Symbicort, less expensive and works better for me too. Might be worth asking your doctor to try another inhaler.

The real fun is figuring out expected annual out of pocket costs as they move from the deductible stage, to the covered stage, to the coverage gap stage, to the catastrophic stage.

As an aside, I input all the meds in Medicare.gov to see if the estimated annual costs the site calcs for my Part D matched the actual costs. The site's numbers were no where close. Actual costs were about 55% higher. Unfortunately, Medicare. gov didn't provide enough data so I could drill down to see where the discrepancy was.

schoolhouse -- Thanks. I will ask my MD about changing. I think they are both the same pharmaceutical company's products. (They wouldn't want to *loose money*!)

jewelisfabulous -- I agree. When I add up my maintenance drug costs for the year it is more than the 'retail cost estimate' provided to me before I choose a plan. Maybe that estimate is a national average? Maybe some of our charges are payment to the individual pharmacy that prepares the prescription? If so, it's not broken out on my receipts.

To Answer My Own Question -- The deductible is included in the estimated annual cost of your medication; you just pay it up front. With Advair costing so much now (almost $400 retail) , I've nearly paid the whole deductible the first month.

Remember, there is also a "donut" hole. Perhaps that $1700 figure included that? You really have to call and ask and ask VERY specific questions.

I'm SO lucky that my late husband made the decision to stay in the Reserves after 6 yrs of active duty in the Navy (before we were married). He put in his 20 yrs, and now I am covered by TriCare for Life and get most of my meds free if I drive to Ft Knox. It's about 45 miles away but well worth the drive 4 times a year.

I take 10 different prescription meds for my chronic pulmonary disease. Out of pocket, that would cost me over $1350 a month, plus an additional $890 a month every other months (28 days on, 28 days off).

I would have been dead a long time ago as it would have been impossible to pay that much for medications taken forever.

Anglophilia -- You're welcome.

Anglo -- yes you are very fortunate about that! Plus, there are housing benefits you can apply for given his 20 years if/when you go in to assisted living. Currently, the amount is $1450 (roughly) per month.

And Borowitz used to be satire. :-)

Study comparing Advair & Symbicort.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20593912

Thanks, mdln. I've emailed my internist asking about trying Symbicort instead of Advair 250/50.

Now I'm wondering what Symbicort costs. Has to be less than almost $400/mo. retail on the Advair.

Sorry, I posted Borowitz on the wrong thread.

TV is loaded with commercials about medicare at this time of year. i'm wondering just WHERE these plans are that "might" not even have a premium/deductible/copy?? guessing people who think "something for nothing" actually exists will call the "number on the screen" and eventually get a profuse apology about fact that they don't "qualify"??

What you are seeing are ads for Medicare Advantage plans which are essentially HMOs. OK in some areas, but where I live, if you are in a MA plan, you will have access to only about 10% of providers in the area. No thank you.

ChiSue, you have been on Medicare for at least 10 years now, haven't you? I know I'm lucky that I've never had to worry about choosing a Medicare Plan D, because prescription meds are included as part of our Medicare Supplement (a/k/a Medigap) policy. Does this really change that much each year that you have to ask a question like you did in your opening post?

I mean, honestly, although which medications are covered by the policy you have and/or the policy you are considering, the basics are always the same. There is the cost of the monthly premiums, the amount of the deductible, and the cost for the various meds. How difficult is it?

I am embarrassed that I didn't remember that the deductible was 'in there' as part of the annual premiums. (Maybe I'm old?)

It's annoying to have to shop Part D *every year*. It's a rare year that one or both of us can stay with the same plan from year to year. Our medications change -- maybe go generic (hahaha). DH's doses change. One plan considers XYZ Med a Tier Two; another says it is Tier Three. Each plan has its 'preferred' pharmacy chain. (Most years our plans have *different* preferred pharmacies -- two trips required.) Mail order is often more, rather than less.

In 2017 I discovered that one of DH's meds costs the same whether the tablet is a 2mg or a 5mg. His MD is fine with buying the 5mg and using a pill splitter to get four doses.

BTW, I am giving up on finding a cheaper alternative to Advair. Symbicort is only $25 cheaper per month (retail); I don't know how I'd react to it; and I'm charged the same out-of-pocket for it as for Advair. Good thing I hadn't already spent my 'savings'.

I've change Part D plans a couple of times, and may do it again this year. Since I don't take any meds regularly, I was shooting for the lowest cost plan without any concern for a specific drug. At the time, that was the Walmart/Humana Part D. But when I started needing meds for Lyme and co-infections I found the prices very high. I switched to Aetna because their premium seemed reasonable and their quoted price on doxycycline and a couple of others was good.

The first year I used Aetna, the doxy cost me $5 and change for a month's worth. Excellent. But this year the price jumped to almost $70. I called Aetna and was told I hadn't paid the deductible. I asked them to explain the low price I was charged last year, and they said, "Last year you paid the deductible." I did? How did I do that? It made no sense to me.

So I guess I don't know any more than I did when I started.