Some health insurance policies do not provide for
prescription coverage and a separate policy must be
purchased for prescription medications.
This is an area where it pays to do some homework and
research and find the best policy for you.
Prescription coverage insurance is not a necessity;
like health insurance coverage, it is a calculated
risk, although the risk is not as high.
Usually you can buy prescription insurance at any
time, so if the doctor determines that you need an
expensive maintenance drug, you may opt in at that
time.
It is important to know that if you presently have
prescription insurance you can usually only change it
at a specific time of the year, although you can add
new prescriptions, you can’t change plans.
The person who seldom takes prescription medications
probably does not need prescription insurance;
however, a person who takes maintenance drugs for high
blood pressure, diabetes, depression, heart disease or
immune disorders most likely needs insurance against
the high costs of drugs.
Prescription insurance policies usually have “tiers”,
which usually means that a generic drug is at a low or
no co-pay, a tier 2 level may be the brand name
genuine, and a tier 3 may be a brand new expensive
drug that the co-pay could be a set high-percentage of
the cost.
In choosing prescription insurance, you should first
list the prescriptions that you take and the retail
amount of them. If you chose not to purchase
insurance, this would be your monthly cost.
Find out from the provider what the monthly premium
for you would be, then what the prescription co-pay
amount would be and add these two figures together.
Which is the less expensive alternative?