May 2018 Formulary Changes to the Top Medicare Drugs

The May, 2018 Medicare Part D plan formulary (or drug list) data included 63 new drug codes or NDCs representing 43 different medications.

The NDC uniquely identifies a particular manufacturer, drug-strength, and packaging combination. The NDC is often shown on your prescription bottle as an 11-digit code (see the charts below) or could be formatted as 00000-0000-00 where the first set of numbers identifies the manufacturer, the second set of number identifies the drug and strength, and the third set of numbers identifies the packaging.

This article highlights the change for some of the "top Medicare drugs", including their generic equivalents. 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:

Count of 2018 Formularies Covering the Top Medicare Drugs Program-wide
Formulary Count*
Drug Name	2013 End**	2014 End**	2015 End**	2016 End**	2017 End**	2018 Start**	April	May	June	July	Aug.
ACTONEL 35 MG 36 DOSE PACK	233	248	148	25	11	13	13	13
ACTOS 30MG TABLET	214	75	35	23	16	16	16	16
ADVAIR DISKUS MIS 250/50	307	347	353	348	371	372	372	373
ATORVASTATIN 10 MG TABLET [Lipitor]	316	364	394	385	389	399	397	398
CLOPIDOGREL TAB 75MG [Plavix]	315	364	394	385	389	399	397	398
DIOVAN HCT 160/12.5MG TABLET	185	80	50	29	21	21	21	21
ESCITALOPRAM 10 MG TABLET [Lexapro]	315	363	385	385	389	399	397	398
ESOMEPRAZOLE SODIUM 40 MG VIAL [Nexium]	253	285	302	305	317	315	317
LANTUS 100U/ML VIAL	309	350	382	371	382	305	311	312
LEXAPRO 10MG TABLET	92	55	45	26	12	21	21	21
LIPITOR 10MG TABLET	68	43	30	21	20	21	21	21
NEXIUM 40MG CAPSULE	198	211	206	98	33	19	19	19
PIOGLITAZONE HCL 30 MG TABLET [Actos]	310	364	394	385	389	399	397	398
PLAVIX 75MG TABLET	109	48	34	20	13	16	16	16
QUETIAPINE FUMARATE 25 MG TAB [SEROQUEL]	316	364	394	385	389	399	397	398
RISEDRONATE SODIUM 35 MG TABLET [Actonel]	220	246	239	235	244	250
SEROQUEL 25MG TABLET	112	54	43	26	12	14	14	14
VALSARTAN-HCTZ 160-12.5 MG TAB [Diovan HCT]	297	343	388	376	382	395	393	394

*The number of formularies counts the unique formularies that offer this medication. As a note, the same formulary can be used by one or many different Medicare Part D plans. The same formulary can be used by both stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAPD).
**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. Ending 2017 CMS formulary dataset dated September, 2017. Starting 2018 CMS formulary dataset dated October, 2018.

You can review any Medicare plan formulary using the on this site FormularyBrowser at FormularyBrowser.com or compare how any medication is covered on all Medicare plans in your service area using our on this site.