On January 15, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) released
the "Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies" (Announcement) that included finalized defined
standard benefits for 2022 Medicare Part D prescription drug plan coverage and other changes to the Medicare program.
Why is the Medicare Part D Defined Standard Benefit important?
Each year, CMS releases the Medicare Part D benefit parameters for the "Defined Standard Benefit" and Medicare Part D plans use this information to determine minimum Part D drug plan coverage for the up-coming plan year. You can use the CMS parameters as a preview of how your Medicare
Part D prescription drug plan coverage may change in January, 2022 (for example, if you currently pay a $445 deductible, your deductible in 2022 may be $480).
Actual plan options and benefit details will be available for your review beginning October
1, 2021 and you can make 2022 plan changes during the fall annual Open Enrollment Period (AEP) (October 15th through December 7th).
How will these changes in 2022 Medicare Part D plan coverage affect you?
If you are trying to get an idea of your 2022 prescription drug spending budget, you can use our 2022 Donut Hole calculator (found at PDP-Planner.com/2022) to estimate your actual out-of-pocket spending based on your estimated mix of generic and brand-name drugs purchased in the 2022 Coverage Gap.
As an overview, the following graph shows the 2022 Medicare Part D plan parameters and how standard Medicare Part D plan coverage has changed since the 2006 beginning of the Medicare Part D program.
Based on the 2022 Announcement, here are the changes to the standard Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage: