Those of you pricing Medicare Plan D insurance plans on the internet during open enrollment need to be aware of incorrect pricing. This could be defended as "computer" or "human" error, but since it is so widespread, most likely it is intentional fraud.
You will often find (as we did!) you are quoted one (low) price during the enrollment period but are charged another (of course, higher price) after you sign up and submit a prescription to be filled by their mailorder pharmacy. Appeals to these government-sanctioned companies are frequently ignored or responded to in ways to avoid answering the question of why you were charged more than originally quoted.
Also, having a prescription filled locally by a pharmacy listed on the plan D company's website may result in your being charged more than what was quoted on the plan D company's website. An inquiry usually results in a reply that the local pharmacy was not an "approved " provider. Well then, why was the pharmacy listed on the company's website?
Next, don't use the U.S. Gov't's Medicare Plan D website for pricing prescriptions during open enrollment.By their own admission, they cannot keep up with price changes by all of the plan D companies and therefore their website cannot be relied upon. However, since the plan D companies also list incorrect prices, where does one turn to? You can try calling the companies for prices, but then you will be quoted another price different from those listed on the website, and finally charged a third price after you sign up. I have even had plan D company respresentatives tell me on the telephone that they could not retrieve a price of a medication (after I had the same problem on their website). It is obvious that they are looking at the same flawed website that I am trying to query.
Appealing to the Medicare Administration for assistance with fraudulent prescription pricing results in a form letter referring you back to the plan D company's appeals procedure, already addressed above. Appeals for assistance from your local senator or representative are also fruitless. They have bigger political fish to fry than our trivial problems with Medicare Plan D! Also, it's no use to request assistance from an attorney unless the amount of money involved is VERY LARGE! You will pay far more in fees than you could ever recover from the plan.
Good luck navigating the Medicare Plan D morass, seniors. If anyone masters it, let me know!
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