I got my monthly RX Summary today. I paid $6.00, the Plan paid $.10 (cents). My monthly premium is $58.20. I guess I'm subsidizing other's pharmacy expenses.

Chisue, I have to sign up for the first time for next year. DH is licking his chops, he just loves diving into this kind of thing (he has a year or more to go to do this for himself), but I'm thinking I want to work with an agent, at least the first time. I have a couple of local names. Do you do this yourself?

Remember that it's insurance too and not just a prepayment for expected benefits, though I understand there are limits to payouts.

You should think of it no differently than when you come to the end of a policy year for your home or auto insurance if you've submitted no claims. It's true that most people don't submit claims for property coverage in most years, but that's expected in the cost pool/expected loss calcs the insurance companies do. When your claims are lower than others, you're right, you are paying for other's expenses. But you're also paying for insurance coverage for yourself - it's there if you need it and benefits are not necessarily limited to what you yourself have paid in.

I have found that Humana consistently provides the best coverage for . me if I get my 'Rxs filled at Walmart which I do even though I hate going into that store. Of course I am not on any expensive meds but my premium is only $18 a month.

Because we don't have regular prescriptions we buy the cheapest policy. My premium for next year is $7,50, when all prices are on the web, I will see if one is lower.

My prescription coverage is included in my Medicare Advantage plan. I certainly don't miss having to research Part D plans every year.

bpath, no, you do not need to use an agent. It's really very easy online, and if you have problems, contact your state's free Medicare counseling program through your county health dept.office of senior services.

bpath -- I go to the Medicare.gov site and let their program run all the options I have in our county. You enter your list of meds; the program churns out options. I sort by annual cost of premium plus meds. Look at which pharmacies are 'preferred' by a plan. You can pay triple at one that's not preferred. We've had plans that preferred CVS, Walgreens, and this year we were fortunate to both have plans that preferred Osco. Be careful that you're comparing plans for 2022, not this year. You can sign up online with an automatic connection to the company whose plan you prefer. I avoid signing up by phone because you have to listen to reams of boilerplate; online, you just check acceptance.

You can do the same thing with Medicare Supplement plans at this site. When people take a Medicare Advantage plan, they don't always realize how much they're paying for cheap or no-pay prescriptions because it's folded into the cost of the Advantage plan. Advantage plans also limit your choice of providers.

Remember, nobody pays 20% of the *retail* cost of prescriptions, as the United HealthCare ads would have you believe. You pay 20% of the much lower *Medicare Approved* cost. For many people with inexpensive meds, they pay more in premiums than they do for the drugs.

My dermatologist tells me that my derm meds are not ordinarily covered in Medicare. Ugh. One I am stockpiling, but the other I can’t, and it’s about $1,000 without insurance. Ugh.

Chisue, CMS has not made their official announcement for Part B premium cost for 2022, but Medicare Part B premiums will most likely rise in 2022. The 2022 Medicare Part B premium is expected to be $158.50 per month, which is up from $148.50 in 2021 (from what I searched).

The estimated rate for the 2022 Part B deductible is $217 per year (up from $203 in 2021). This is an increase of $14 per year from the 2021 Part B deductible.

It’s important to note that the figures are based on the cost estimates from the 2021 Medicare Trustees Report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

pamike -- Thanks for the information. Yesterday I visited the Medicare site, only to find that they don't yet have the information on 2022 Part D plans. I did 'chat' there and was told only that the plans will be posted "before open enrollment starts Oct. 15". It has to be quite a task to get all those plans stacked -- and vetted! (My choice of Part D insurers for this year went belly up after a few months, and I had to choose a second plan. The system picked up my coverage between plans.)

I'm 65 partway through the year. Do I need to sign up NOW ?

No, but you should contact Social Security/Medicare about 3 months before your birthday.