Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New Medicare rules are set to help seniors in 2025, as a new prescription cost cap has been set at $2,000. However, one local financial expert warns insurance may take steps to recoup losses.
“Thanks to the President's lower cost prescription drug law, the Inflation Reduction Act, millions of people with Medicare Part D will see even lower costs next year. Your out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs will be limited to no more than $2,000, keeping more of your money in your pocket,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “In addition to improving the Part D drug benefit, we are updating payments to Medicare managed care plans for people who rely on these plans. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to work on lowering health care costs for all Americans, fulfilling a promise the President made.”
“CMS continues to take steps to maintain the stability of the Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug programs,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “The finalized policies in the Rate Announcement and the Part D Redesign Program Instructions will make improvements to keep Medicare Advantage payments up-to-date and accurate, lower prescription drug costs, and ensure that people with Medicare have access to robust and affordable health care options.”
Brian Faraci says this is big news for Medicare patients. "With the rising cost of medications along with everything else, medications for people who reached a doughnut hole, or better known as a coverage gap, will see a reduced cost and medication cost over an annual basis," says Faraci. He says depending on the medications, savings could be hundreds or thousands of dollars. "For the seniors on a fixed budget, this can be huge for them, this puts all that money back in their pocket for the rising cost of everything else that's going up," adds Faraci.
While Faraci see this as a positive, it could be a negative from insurance companies' standpoints because the insurance companies will have to make some of the costs up in other places. "I would just hate to see in a year or two down the road where they're taking away some of the cheaper co pays or some of the ancillary benefits like dental or vision. We don't want to see those services reduced," notes Faraci. He says that change could happen a couple of years down the road.
Faraci says there's no change that needs to be made yet, because all of this will take place Jan. 1, 2025.