Saving on Medicare Part D Costs

Note: I wrote this compensated post in partnership with Walgreens. All opinions and experiences within this post are honest and are my own.

Before having children, Brian and I rarely thought about or needed prescriptions. Once our kids were born, though, that changed – especially when our younger son C started getting repeat ear infections at just a few months old. We didn’t really know what to expect when it came to prescription cost, so we were shocked when we found out how expensive his prescription ear drops were. Thankfully we had insurance that cut the cost down by over 50% (especially since we had to purchase these drops several times)!

If you don’t have private insurance and are one of the 31.5 million people enrolled in Medicare Part D, you can save money on prescriptions at participating pharmacies. Finding a medicare pharmacy can mean the difference in paying an exorbitant amount and having a reasonable cost for necessary medicines. And high costs are a real issue – more than one-third of Medicare Part D beneficiaries surveyed have daily concerns about prescription drug costs. Another sad fact? One in five people surveyed say they’ve had to make sacrifices like delaying filling a prescription or even skipping doses. This can be dangerous!

If you’re a Medicare beneficiary & you use a preferred network pharmacy (if one is offered by the Part D plan) you can potentially save hundreds of dollars a year on prescription costs. This could mean the difference in getting the medicine you need NOW instead of delaying or skipping and potentially harming your health.

Walgreens is in the network of hundreds of Medicare prescription  drug plans. It also participates in the preferred networks of four national Part D sponsors. This means that Walgreens can offer savings of up to 75% on prescription copays over select pharmacies for a number of plans in which it is a preferred pharmacy. Be sure and compare medicare part D plans to see if Walgreens is in your plan’s preferred network.

Walgreens has a You’re Worth Savings initiative that helps Medicare beneficiaries learn about cost saving opportunities. You can learn how to get the most from their health plan with three easy steps (and these steps can help you save as much as 75% on prescription drug costs, so they’re worth checking out):

1. Review your Medicare Part D plan.
2. Talk to a Walgreens pharmacist about cost concerns and ways you might be able to save.
3. Compare co-pay and other costs against your current plan and pharmacy.

Insurance can be a confusing road to navigate, so having a professional help you is a valuable asset. Be sure and talk with a pharmacist at your local Walgreens to see if they can help you save money. You can get more information on Medicare Part D on the Walgreens site.

I’ll be posting again later with more information on saving money for Medicare beneficiaries including a really helpful chart that explains Part D, so keep an eye out for my follow-up post!

Note: I wrote this compensated post in partnership with Walgreens. All opinions and experiences within this post are honest and are my own. For more information on Medicare Part D, click here.