If you’re planning on renewing or joining a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Medicare prescription drug plan, the news is mixed when it comes to costs. Average premiums will drop in 2025, thanks in part to a premium stabilization effort by the government. And a new cap on out-of-pocket costs (copays, coinsurance, and deductibles) limits your responsibility to $2,000 for the year. But average 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:deductibles will see a big rise. 

The table below outlines the Medicare 𓆏Part D cost differences between 2024 and 2025. 

*Source: Investopedia analysis of 2024 and 2025 landscape files from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), not weighted by enrollment. All other rows of data in this table come from CMS and are weighted by predicted enrollment figures.

Medicare Part D helps people covered by Medicare pay for brand-name and generic drugs. This coverage is sold by insurance companies and other private providers approved by Medi🙈care. Part D can be a standalone plan or a benefit added to Medicare Advantage c💧overage.

It’s important to pay attention to plan costs now because Medicare open enrollment is Oct. 15–Dec. 7. During this time, if you are already enrolled in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史💯查询:Medicare Parts A and B (original Medicare), you can:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Medicare Advantage plan or from a Medicare Advantage Plan to Original Medicare.
• Join, drop, or switch between Medicare Advantage plans (or add or drop drug coverage).
• Sign up for, drop, or switch between 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. 

Changes you make during𒐪 open enrollment take effect Jan. 1, 20ಞ25.

Note that higher earners pay a surcharge for Medicare Part D coverage. Below is a table showing the surcharge amounts for 2024, based on filing status and yearly income in 2022. (Surcharges for 2025 have not been announced yet.)

Changes to Part D in 2025

Sweeping changes are coming to Part D prescription drug plans. Here are the main ones ✨to look out fo🎶r. 

Donut Hole Dies, $2,000 Out-of-Pocket ♌🔯Cap Is Born

The biggest changes include the elimination of the infamous “澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:donut hole” coverage gap and a new $2,000 limit on how much you’ll have to spend on Part D costs (excluding premiums).꧋ The phases of coveragꦺe will look like this in 2025:

• Deductible phase: If your plan has a deductible, you’ll pay for all of your prescription drugs until you reach it. The average deductible for standalone Part D plans in 2025 is $466, and the maximum that a plan can require is $590. The average drug deductible for Medicare Advantage drug plans is $306.
• Initial coverage: You’ll pay 25% 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:coinsurance for covered drugs until you’ve paid $2,000 out of pocket.
• Catastrophic: Once you’ve hit the $2,000 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:out-of-pocket limit, you’ll pay nothing else for 2025. Part D enrollees who reach the catastrophic threshold will save about $1,300 on drug costs in 2025 compared to 2024, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) review. In future years, the $2,000 limit will increase based on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:inflation.

New Part D Payment Plan Will Launch

Beginning in 2025, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Inflation Reduction Act requires all standalone Part D plans and Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage to give enrollees the option to pay out-of-pocket prescription drug costs in monthly installment payments instead of all at once at a pharmacy.

The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan spreads out your drug costs throughout the year. If you enroll, you won’t pay anything when picking up your medication at the pharmacy. Instead, your plan will bill you monthly. 

You can learn more about a payment plan by visiting yꦰour plan’s website, calling your plan, or calling or visiting Medicare.gov.

Standalone Part D Premiums Are Stabilized—𝄹For Now

Earlier this year, there was fear 🦂that Part D premiums might rise significantly in 2025 as insurers sought to compensate for their increased costs from other program changes. So, CMS created a voluntary, nationwide, one-year test program (called a “demonstration”) to help stabilize premiums for standalone Part D plans. Participating plans get money from the government to help contain premium costs. 

The experiment limits any Part D year-over-year premium increase in 2025 to $35. Plans can choose to continue to participate for two more years.

What This Means for You 

If you’ve already got Medicare drug coverage, carefully review the letter your plan should have sent you in September. It’s called the Part D Annual Notice of💖 Changes (ANOC). It will contain details about how much your specific plan will cost and information about its formulary: the plan’s list of medications it will cover. 

If you haven’t yet signed up for prescription drug cಌoverage, review the costs and coverages associated with any plan you are consideri๊ng joining. Anyone wanting to join, drop, or switch Part D plans can do so during Medicare open enrollment, Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. 

Once you’re enrolled, consider joining a repa🐽yment plan. It’s an easy, n🐓o-interest way to spread out the cost of covered medications over time.