Cha-Ching! Seniors Enrolled in Medicare Prescription Drug Plans Might Be in for Sticker Shock...( Consumers Union finds up to $1900...),Health

Consumers Union finds up to $1,900 annual increases in plan premiums, drug costs; urges beneficiaries to check plan costs during Nov. 15 open enrollment period

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Halloween may be over, but Medicare Part D beneficiaries shopping during open enrollment could be in for a nasty scare, with up to $1,915 in cost increases next year for premiums and five commonly used prescriptions -- the equivalent of about two month's worth of Social Security checks.

"Anyone currently enrolled in the Medicare drug program should sit down with their family this holiday season to make sure their plan still offers a good deal next year," said Bill Vaughan, senior health policy analyst for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.

"Those folks who simply stick with their current Medicare drug plan and fail to check next year's drug prices and premiums could face financial disaster come January," Vaughan added.

Consumers Union also found that while many plans are reducing monthly premiums for next year, they actually are increasing overall annual costs for a theoretical basket of five common prescription drugs monitored in the study.

"Lower monthly premiums can be dangerously deceptive to a senior who doesn't also check on the costs of the drugs they are taking under that plan," Vaughan said. "Just because you see your monthly premiums go down, don't assume your drug costs won't go up, perhaps dramatically."

In zip codes in five states (New York, Illinois, California, Texas and Florida), Consumers Union compared January 2007 Medicare Part D Plan out-of-pocket prices for five common drugs(1) and monthly premiums with those advertised for January 2008. At least 82 percent of plans in each state increased their overall costs(2), and out of the total 247 plans, 39 plans, or 16 percent, increased their costs by 25 percent or more(3).

The largest increase among the five states sampled was for E
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