Over 15 million people enrolled in a 2022 Medicare PDP will see an increase of $20 to $155 in their 2023 initial deductible

If your stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP) - or Medicare Advantage plan that includes drug coverage (MAPD) - has an initial deductible, you will usually pay 100% of your prescription drug costs until you have met the deductible.  For example, if your Medicare plan has a $505 deductible, you will pay the full retail price for your medications until you have spent $505 and then your plan coverage will begin (and you will only pay a portion of the retail cost, such as a $30 co-pay or 25% co-insurance on your medications).

Reminder:  Low-costing formulary tiers may be excluded from your deductible.

Although most stand-alone Medicare Part D drug plans (and some Medicare Advantage plans) have an initial deductible, many 2023 Medicare Part D plans have certain drug tiers excluded from the initial deductible.  For example, you may find that your 2023 Medicare Part D plan has a $505 initial deductible, but the deductible only applies to medications on formulary Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 - and your lower-costing Tier 1 and Tier 2 drugs are covered even before you have met the $505 deductible.

About 14 million people will see a $25 increase in their standard initial deductible.

Each year standard Medicare Part D plan designs change and in 2023, the annual standard initial deductible will increase to $505 from the $480 standard deductible in 2022 and this $25 increase in deductible could impact about 14,049,495 people currently enrolled in a 2022 stand-alone Medicare Part D plan -- although many of the plan members receive "Extra Help" and do not pay the deductible (or pay a reduced deductible based on their level of Extra Help)  -- and, as noted, many of these drug plans exclude lower-cost generics from the deductible.

Some people will see a larger increase in their initial deductible beyond the $25 increase in the standard initial deductible.

With changes in Medicare Part D plan coverage, over 909,000 people will see an increase in their 2023 initial deductible of $45 or more.  As an example, over 78,000 stand-alone Medicare Part D beneficiaries are enrolled in a MediBlue Rx Standard PDP that will have an initial deductible increase from $75 to $155.

The following table illustrates other 2023 initial deductible increases.

The Good News:  About 820,000 people will see a decrease in their initial deductible.

As in past years, some stand-alone Medicare Part D plans (PDPs) have chosen to reduce their initial deductible for the new plan year. The 747,000 members of the Humana Premier Rx Plan (PDP) will have a $300 deductible in 2023 down from $480 in 2022 -- and Humana Premier Rx Plan (PDP) members in AR, MO, PA and WV will have a deductible of $200.

How to see the changes in your 2023 initial deductible.

Our PDP-Compare and MA-Compare tools highlight coverage changes for each stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug (PDP) and Medicare Advantage (MA or MAPD) plan and include 2022 / 2023 changes in plan features such as premium, deductible, cost-sharing and formulary size changes.  Our compare tools also show plans that will be merged or discontinued and plans that will be added in 2023.