Question:
My wife uses ChampVA for insurance but will be eligible for Medicare when she turns 65 along with Medicare Part D for prescription drugs. There is a monthly premium for Medicare Part D, but other than that how would you compare Part D drug coverage versus the ChampVA meds by mail program?
Jim's Reply:
My wife crossed that line a couple years ago and it get's confusing. First up, it's my experience that Part D can be costly whereas CHAMPVA gets the meds to her for free or with a very low copay.
https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/docs/pubfiles/brochures/MbM_brochure.pdf
Overall my wife is pleased with her Meds By Mail program, it works well for her. She and I have a habit of carefully looking over any Medicare offering that costs extra. Often enough if you take the $$$ that you'd pay the premium with and tuck it away and use it to pay cash for extras, you'll be ahead. Many of these Medicare supplements restrict you to a group of providers who may not be as convenient as you'd like so read that fine print.
If you'll spend more time than you wanted to and get to know CHAMPVA, you'll likely discover that when combined with her basic Medicare benefit she'll have very good health care insurance. The trick to using it all effectively is to ask questions of providers up front, before you need the health care. Every doctors office has an insurance specialist who will be grateful for you to come in ahead of time to talk about billing. The same applies to your local pharmacy, they're a wealth of info about who covers what and when.
You have your VA care and Medicare and CHAMPVA in your family. That puts you in the best insured group in America today. Learn the rules that apply in your region and you're way ahead. Good luck!