It’s the Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Period. People with Medicare are either in traditional Medicare and picking a standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan or choosing a Medicare Advantage plan with Part D benefits. The good news for people in traditional Medicare is that, overall, premiums for standalone Part D plans are going down a bit. The bad news for people in Medicare Advantage is that overall costs are going up.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees Medicare, projects that the monthly premium for a standalone Part D plan is dropping nearly four dollars. Some Part D plan premiums will drop to zero. While you likely will spend more upfront for Part D coverage in traditional Medicare than in Medicare Advantage, in traditional Medicare you will have easy access to care from the doctors and hospitals you know and trust and will not face inappropriate delays and denials of care, as many people do in Medicare Advantage.
If you are in a Medicare Advantage plan, beware that you might be able to get your drugs at lower cost from a mail-order pharmacy than through your Medicare Advantage plan.
The 2026 Part D deductible could be as high as $615 in 2026. You will need to pay the full cost of your deductible out of pocket before your prescription drug coverage kicks in. After you meet your deductible, you will pay 25 percent of the cost of your drugs until you reach the $2,100 maximum out-of-pocket cap.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- 2026: Insurers predict that most people with Medicare will be enrolled in traditional Medicare
- Medicare Part D plans can make it hard to get prescription drugs
- Online pharmacies can save you money
- Case study: Costco saves one couple hundreds of dollars over Medicare Part D
- Prescription drug middlemen, PBMs, will always drive up drug costs
