As you may know, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans update their plan formularies (drug lists) throughout the plan year and the
June 2023
Medicare Part D formulary updates included
Sixty-three (63) new drugs, thirty-nine (39) of which are generics - with a total of fifty-seven (57) new generic equivalents
(variations of manufacturer, drug-strength, and packaging).
Of the
thirty-nine (39) new generic medications,
fifteen (15) are newly-introduced generic drugs. These new generic drugs include:
- APRACLONIDINE HCL [Iopidine®],
- DILTIAZEM LA [Cardizem LA®],
- DOXYCYCLINE IR-DR [Oracea®],
- LIDOCAINE VISCOUS [Xylocaine Viscous®],
- LURASIDONE HCL [Latuda®],
- METHYLPHENIDATE [RELEXXII®],
- NALOCET [Primalev®],
- NEO-POLYCIN EYE OINTMENT [Polymycin®],
- NEO-POLYCIN HC EYE OINTMENT [Ocu-Cort®],
- OFLOXACIN [Ocuflox®],
- POLYCIN EYE OINTMENT [Polytracin®],
- PREDNISOLONE [Prelone®],
- CLINDACIN [Evoclin®],
- TASIMELTEON [HETLIOZ®], and
- TERIFLUNOMIDE [AUBAGIO®].
Please note that these new generic drugs are not available on all Medicare Part D
(
PDP) or Medicare Advantage plan (
MAPD) formularies. You can review the chart below to see the (often limited)
number of plan formularies that now include these drugs.
*The number of formularies counts the unique formularies that offer this
medication. As a note, the same formulary can be used by one or many
different Medicare Part D plans. The same formulary can be used by both
PDP and MAPD plans.
What Could the Addition of New Generic Drugs Mean to You?
- You may be able to save money by switching
from the brand-name drug to its generic equivalent – with your prescriber’s
approval and a new prescription. Please note, you will need to look
carefully at coverage costs as we have found that many 2023 generics are being
offered on the same tier as their brand-name equivalent or the generics do not
have a significantly lower retail price.
- Your brand-name drug may no longer be
available if a generic is now available. Based on past
experience, you may find that many Medicare Part D plans discontinue
coverage for the brand-name drug in the months following the
introduction of the generic equivalent - or your plan may immediately drop the brand-name drug now that the generic is being introduced.
If you have received notice
from your Medicare Part D plan
that your brand-name medication will be dropped, you should speak
with your
prescriber to determine if you can take the generic equivalent or
if you must continue taking the brand-name drug, you will
need to ask your plan for a formulary
exception to continue coverage for your brand-name
drug.
You can click for a chart
showing the trends in formulary coverage for some of the more popular
Medicare drugs and their generic equivalents.
As a note, both our
Formulary Browser
(you can view all the drugs covered by a single Medicare prescription drug plan) and our Q1Rx
Drug Finder
(you can view all the Medicare drug plans covering a single drug) have been
updated with the June 2023 Medicare Part D formulary data.