The April, 2017 Medicare Part D plan formulary (or drug list) data included
380 new drug codes representing 250 different medications.
Although this article is about some of the "top Medicare drugs", we include the generic equivalents to the list, thus bringing our list to include 18 drugs. The generics included are Atorvastatin [
Lipitor®] , Clopidogrel [Plavix®], Escitalopram [Lexapro®], Esomeprazole Sodium [Nexium®], Pioglitazone [Actos®], Risedronate Sodium [Actonel®], Quetiapine Fumarate [Seroquel®], and Valsartan-HCTZ [Diovan HCT®].
The changes to the number of formularies covering these medications looks as follows:
*The formulary counts include both stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAPD) in all states and the U.S. territories.
**Ending 2013 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2013. Ending 2014 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2014. Ending 2015 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2015. Ending 2016 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2016.
Starting 2017 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2016 (Sanctioned plans not included in plan count).
You can review any Medicare plan formulary using the Q1Medicare.com FormularyBrowser at
FormularyBrowser.com or compare how any medication is covered on all Medicare plans in your service area using our
Q1Rx.com.