How to Choose Between Rx Drug Plans

Compare Drug Plan Costs Using “Formularies” Available on the Web IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGY.

You’ll come across important terms as you read through the suggested steps, below. A few of them: • Formulary: A list of all the drugs covered by the plan your considering. If a drug that is important to you and does not have a substitute, you should consider a different plan.

  • Tiers: Drugs are grouped into tiers as presented in the formulary. Each tier has a different co-pay or percentage reimbursement. When you use the steps below, you’ll be able to calculate the different costs for different plans.
  • Generics: these are unbranded drugs and are usually presented in the least-costly tier.
  • Brand name drugs : Generally these are more expensive than generics and will likely appear in more expensive tiers. Different drug plans may assign name-brand drugs to different cost tiers.
  • Coverage gap (or the “donut hole”): When the actual costs of your drugs (not your out of pocket costs) reaches a certain threshold, you will be paying considerably more for your drugs. The calculators in the verious steps below help calculate those costs.

DIFFERENT PLANS PRICE THE SAME DRUG DIFFERENTLY

Compare costs. Different plans have different formularies that impact your costs.  
Enter your drugs at medicare.gov and the Express Scripts sites and compare.

YOU CAN HAVE SEPARATE Rx PLANS WITH Nokia HEALTHCARE 

 » Nokia does not allow you to stop paying for the Drug Plan plan if you keep their health care plan but you can sign up for a your own Part D plan. Since the UHC Rx plan has higher deductibles and co-payments than some Medicare plans, you should calculate your out-of-pocket cost differences which may be less expensive, depending on the prescriptions you use.

  • Thus it could be cheaper to subscribe to a Medicare Rx plan while still using Nokia for healthcare.
  • Call the Benefits hot line to coordinate your choices (888-232-4111).
  • More details of how to change are covered in the brochure Medicare and Your Nokia Coverage, page 11. Click here to read.

Three Steps to Calculate Cost Differences

  • First :: Calculate drug costs for commercial plans at medicare.gov. Commercial plans are posted at medicare.gov. Once there, follow the instructions to the plan results page. Note that there are separate entries for two different types of prescription drug plans:  
    •  Stand alone PDP plans with a monthly premium    
    •  PDP plans that are integrated with a Medicare Advantage plan
  • Second :: Calculate drug costs for the Express Scripts plan. The Nokia Part D cost calculator is available at the Express Scripts web site.  You can call Express Scripts for help at (800) 230-0512. When you have complete the calculation, add the results to the tracking sheet from the “How to Find” first step.
  • Third :: Compare the differences. The Benefits Team tracking sheet has a table to enter the differences for your comparison. Use them when you compare the differences between the total monthly premium of the Nokia plan and commercial plans.