How Beneficiaries Learn About and Choose Medicare Drug Plans
The new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit that began in January 2006 offered beneficiaries the choice of numerous privately administered prescription drug plans. Dozens of plans are available by insurance and pharmacy benefit management companies, and each company may offer several packages with different covered drugs, different benefit structures, and different premiums. This project, conducted for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, studied how beneficiaries learn about the drug plan choices available to them, how they made the choice of whether to enroll in a plan, and what factors were important to them in choosing among the many available plans. The project consisted of three major activities: a survey of beneficiaries, key informant interviews with state health insurance counselors, and focus groups with beneficiaries and family members.