As in past years, some 2015 Medicare Part D plans are
changing their cost-sharing structures for 2016 prescription drug purchases. For example, the SilverScript Choice plan will add a "Preferred Generic" tier as Tier One and the former
"Generic" tier will become Tier Two in 2016.
As can be seen in the following example, the 2015 SilverScript Choice plan formulary covers 671 medications as Tier One "Generic" medications (with an $8 co-pay).
In comparison, the 2016 SilverScript Choice plan formulary covers 102 medications as Tier One "Preferred Generics" (with an $3 co-pay) and 444 drugs as Tier Two "Generics" (with an $17 co-pay).
California SilverScript Choice
2015 and 2016 Medicare Part D plan Cost-sharing Comparison
|
|
2015 |
2016 |
Monthly Premium |
$22.20 |
$23.10 |
Initial Deductible |
$0 |
$0 |
Gap Coverage |
No Gap Coverage |
No Gap Coverage |
Tier |
2015
Cost-Sharing |
Drugs
on Tier |
Tier |
2016
Cost-Sharing |
Drugs
on Tier |
-- |
-- |
|
|
1 |
Preferred Generic |
$3
|
102 |
1 |
Generic |
$8 |
671 |
2 |
Generic |
$17 |
444 |
2 |
Preferred Brand |
$41 |
1,071 |
2 |
Preferred Brand |
$46 |
924 |
3 |
Non-Preferred Brand |
43% |
902 |
3 |
Non-Preferred Brand |
47% |
1,076 |
4 |
Specialty Tier |
33% |
399 |
4 |
Specialty Tier |
33% |
425 |
Total Formulary Drugs
|
Browse 2015 Formulary |
3,043 |
|
Browse 2016
Formulary |
2,971 |
There are approximately 3,298,354 members in the 2015 SilverScript Choice plan and an additional 124,563 members in the
SilverScript Plus plan that will see a similar change in their cost-sharing structure.
If you would like to learn how the Generics were sorted between the 2016 Generic and Preferred Generic tiers, you
can
click
here to browser the California SilverScript Choice 2016 Formulary.
To compare annual changes in Medicare plans, our
PDP-Compare
and
MA-Compare
tools show the 2015 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans
(PDPs) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAs or MAPDs) across the country and include changes in
plan features such as premium, deductible, cost-sharing and formulary
size changes. Our compare tools also highlight plans that will be merged, discontinued, or added in 2016.