Now it really doesn’t matter if you’re choosing a plan from a basket of 100 plans by 20 different Medicare Part D plan providers, if you’re getting a Part D plan, you should be prepared to shell out some money.

The reason is simple, regardless what the plan, there is always a premium that needs to be paid.

Medicare Part D is one of the off springs of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. It began to take effect on January 1, 2006, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended prescription drug coverage to Medicare recipients. Medicare beneficiaries wanting to have prescription drug coverage can be charged the same premiums for Medicare Part B add-on benefits.

If you opt for Medicare Part D benefits, you will need to pay around $35 to $37 per month. Part D is not a stand-alone plan, so you will need to take out a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Prescription Drug Plan. If you’re already excited about getting a Medicare Part D plan, we’d like to tell you that getting a Medicare Part D is not as easy as it sounds.

Across the United States there is practically a basket of Medicare Part D plans, there can be as many as 100 plans by 20 different providers, which can mean a lot of comparison-shopping for you. But regardless of the plan, any plan is actually going to cost you money. Some plans charge fees on top of your Medicare Part B add-on fee (in 2005, the rate was at $78.20). On the other hand, some plans charge a combined premium for Part B and Part D. Premium price basically vary depending on the coverage.

Apart from the premiums, most Part D plans also charge a deductible on prescription drugs.

A standard Part D would require plan enrollees to pay $250 in deductible and charge 25% of the cost of prescription drugs until the yearly out-of-pocket costs total $2,250. The Part D recipient shoulders the costs beyond $2,250 and up to $5,100. If you’re body is like a drugstore in that it requires a lot prescription drugs for maintenance, or if you need a few expensive prescription medicines to get by, Part D provides little or no safety net for your prescription drugs cost.

In choosing which Medicare Part D plan is best for you, you need to do the math on the actual costs of your plan. Medicare Part D plans actually come with sign-up penalties after the initial enrolment period. You can calculate your actual cost based on your sign up date, your chosen plan, the prescription drugs and how often you take them.

Because of the apparent complexities of Medicare Part D, many plans have been sold to the senior citizens – nothing wrong with it except that the plans sold have generally been too expensive for the kind of benefits they provide.

Each of the Part D plans comes with a list of prescription drugs that can or cannot be covered – and the list changes every year.