If you’re planning on renewing or joining a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: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官方开奖结果体彩网:deductibles will see a big rise. 

The table below outlines the Medicare Part D cost differences between 2024 and 20🍸25. 

*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 Medicare. Part D can be a standalone plan or a bene🎐fit added to Medicare Advantage coverage.

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官方开奖结🅘果体彩网:Medicare🐷 Parts A and B (original Medicare), you can:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: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官方开奖结果体彩网:Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. 

Changes you mꦺake d💖uring open enrollment take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

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. Here๊ are the main ones to look out for. 

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官方开奖结果体彩网:donut hole” coverage gap and a ♕new $2,000 limit on how muc꧟h you’ll have to spend on Part D costs (excluding premiums). The phases of coverage 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官方开奖结果体彩网: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官方开奖结果体彩网: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官方开奖结果体彩网:inflation.

New Part D Payment Plan Will Launch

Beginning in 2025, the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: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 byꦿ visiting y✃our plan’s website, calling your plan, or calling or visiting Medicare.gov.

Standalone Pa✅rt 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 t🐎o 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 Medicar𝕴e 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 pre𓃲scription drug coverage, review the costs and coverages associated with any plan you are considering joining. Anyone wanting to join, drop, or switch Part D plans can do so during Medicare open enrollment, Oct. 15 tౠhrough Dec. 7. 

Once you’re enrolled, consider joining a repayment plan. It’s an easy, no-interest way to spread out the cost of covered medications over ti☂me.