Sorry for any confusion. We recently noted that the "average monthly Medicare Part D plan premium is only slightly increasing." In late-July, Medicare announced that the national average weighted monthly premium for 2014 Medicare Part D prescription drug plans would increase only slightly to $31 from the current 2013 average premium of around $30 a month.
As reference, here are the Medicare Part D estimated weighted average monthly premiums since the beginning of the Medicare Part D program with links to their respective HHS News or Press Releases (rounded to the nearest dollar):
In the text above, we are not stating that a particular Medicare Part D plan premium is $31.
Rather, the $31 figure is the average weighted premium across all of the 2014 Medicare Part D plans and Medicare Advantage plans that prescription drug coverage.
This means that if you were to add up all of the premiums for every plan, multiplied by the number of people in each plan and then divide that very large number by the total number of people in the Medicare Part D program, the result would be $31.
For instance, the average weighted Medicare Part D premium for 2013 is $30 and this is compared to your actual current premium of $43.70. on this site.
If you would like more information about the 2014 Medicare plans, you can also sign-up to receive our free Medicare Part D Newsletter.