Wednesday, November 4, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon MEDICARE: Guidance through the maze is available locally Continued from page 3 plans include Part D prescrip- tion drug coverage. With Part C coverage, you are in a local network so you must use the providers who are part of that network. If you seek medical care out- side of your network (another county or state), you are responsible for 100 percent of the charges. With Part C you can lose control of your healthcare decisions 4 the freedom to be treated where and by whom you choose. Part D (Prescription drug plans): These are insurance plans designed to cover part or all of the cost for prescrip- tion drugs. The coverage period runs from January 1 3 December 31 each year. Simply stated, find a well- ranked company (one to five stars) with low premiums where you can use the phar- macy of your choice. But there are lots of factors to take into consideration when choosing the best drug plan for you, like restrictions on quantity limits and step ther- apy. If it doesn9t work out the way you expected, you can change plans each October 15 3 December 7. There are several ways to obtain Part D. A stand-alone policy (PDP), which is not linked to any other part of Medicare, can be purchased. Each year you can shop for a new policy without mak- ing any changes to any other part of Medicare. If you are happy with your plan you need do nothing. It will just roll over, but things change every year so it9s a good idea to make sure your plan still meets your needs. With Medicare Advantage plans, Part D is bundled with the plan (MAPD). You have no choice of carriers and can9t make changes. You also can- not have a stand-alone drug plan with your Medicare Advantage plan. Each company has its own formulary, which is the list of drugs covered by the company9s plans. Each plan has five tiers or levels of cost sharing based on generic and preferred brand-name drugs and the relationship that the CORRECTION One of the project funders identified in The Nugget9s story