You could request an exception, and it might be approved. Or you could switch to a drug that’s on the formulary that (theoretically) does the same thing. Or you can switch Part D plans for next year so that your medication is covered. Or you can pay cash. My H has chosen to pay cash for one of his prescriptions because in the long run, he saves money. His Part D premium is 0 & his other prescription is free. So it makes sense for him to choose a plan without considering the more expensive drug & paying cash for that one.
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have you entered your prescriptions online to see if other plans might cover your Rx? (You don’t need to choose a BC drug plan just bcos you have BC medical supplement.). Have you checked with Amazon pharmacy or the Mark Cuban program or discounter like Costco?
https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare/#/?year=2025&lang=en
ask your doc for a script for something similar that might be covered.
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A little help? I’m looking for a blurb/link that succinctly explains QCD (tax advantaged donation of IRA fund, when over age 70.5). It would be for a non-profit newsletter. There would also be words about “consult your CPA or financial advisor”.
The IRS link could work, though rather wordy
I like the format on websites of variou advising firms. And the big investment firms (Schwab, Fidelity etc). But want to stay firm-neutral, ie not imply it is “advertising”.
Does this work? Husband and I both successfully had checks cut from our Fidelity IRA’s for synagogue memberships. This was our first time doing it because we’ve reached RMD age. Such payments from regular accounts have shown up as fully tax deductible on previous year statements from the synagogues.
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I’m sure AARP has a few relevant articles. Like this one:
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Thank for the helpful links!
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They aren’t if you do a qualified charitable distribution. The synagogue got your check. Honestly, they have no way (nor should they) to know the tax implications of your donation.
We have done this for two years. Yes, we get a letter every year thanking us for our tax deductible donation…but we know we can’t take both the qualified charitable distribution and the tax break. And we don’t!
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Yes, obviously, it’s not both a non taxable withdrawal and an itemizable deduction. My point is that I know it’s a qualified charitable organization from prior year contributions, so payments from the IRA are not taxable withdrawals.
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A quick “thank you” for all the help mentioned above on this thread about Part D changes - I just did all my research with my med formulary and feel confident in a very good selection for 2025! This website is great for so much real life information!
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PSA: Walgreens just announced the closure of ~1200 stores, 500 next year alone, so be aware that your neighborhood preferred pharmacy may be closing before next Part D Open Enrollment.
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I truly hate this about our IRS code. Income never gets taxed. I believe eventually income should be taxed. Then you can deal with the charitable deduction if you choose to.
It really seems like all the advantages of the tax code is really set up for wealthier people.
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We don’t have a CVS and the rite aid closed this year. Sure hope we can keep the Walgreens open.
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We are in a Walgreen heavy area - I believe 4 Walgreen stores within about 5 miles. Our is the busiest (and oldest), and pharmacy is 24/7 unless there is a pharmacist shortage (only closed for a meal break in mid early am hours unless a pharmacist shortage) - they have double staff/overlap M - F afternoons. High growth area. This pharmacy is close to where we go - and it is very close to DH’s favorite store Home Depot. We also get our vaccinations there, and they are very good about their vaccination records. DD says they provide vaccination records to military, which saves them a step for her DH/active Army.
I just did our drug plan analysis - DH saved $953 from his current drug plan for the year, and I saved $343. When you get familiar using the comparison tool on Medicare site, it only takes a few minutes. I wanted to do this while I was ‘fresh’ today. Things always go better with a clear mind.
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Grumble, grumble, I don’t know if I want to do this. I was talking to some friends about when we should file for social security, and they recommended their financial advisors at Wells Fargo, so we’re meeting with them. We really trust our friends, super sharp people, but I don’t know that WF has anything to offer us. I don’t want to pay a bunch of fees on things or get talked into products we don’t want. Don’t want insurance or annuities.
What I actually want is someone to give us tax advice on a few subjects, advise a good mix of low fee stock ETFs to roll our 401Ks into an IRA with, and to bop me on the head when we’re doing something unusually stupid. Someone like a very intelligent, good friend with just our best interests in mind.
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My 69yo sister is hell-bent on taking her pension in a lump sum and doing an annuity. I don’t get it. A couple of people on here seem to be pro-annuity. Can you explain why?
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Absolutely and you can compare plan providers and pharmacies returning all sorts of valuable $$ data. That tool was very helpful and took minutes since I had previously loaded my prescriptions. What I found facinating was how different pharmacies charge for the same drugs and how they can be so very different on some of them even when same generic or same name brand.
With a pension, once you die the payments stop. If you die in the first month… Oh well.
Some kinds of annuities act just like pensions, and it probably makes little sense to switch one for the other, unless the annuity payout is higher than the pension.
Some annuities will return some or all of the principal at death or along the way, or allow withdrawals of the principal on demand. Perhaps this flexibility is what your sister is looking for.
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To the pension holder…yes. But I have my pension set so my husband will get 50% of my pension for as long as he lives if I die first. It could have been 75%. My choice.
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You and @thumper have hit at a couple of the issues. She has no dh and wants the money in her hands to pass to her kids.
But let’s take this out of the realm of my sister, because this continues to be a question for me, too …
Let’s say I can get a lump sum of $150k. I have the ability to get an annuity that will pay $180k over the course of 15 years. Can’t I take the lump sum and invest the money and perhaps make more while having more access to the whole thing? That’s why an annuity doesn’t make sense to me at this point. If I took the lump sum and put it in a regular IRA, there would be no tax implications, right?
Question: I submitted my SS application yesterday just for Medicare - not for benefits at this time. How long did it take for you to get approval/Medicare card/number? I need that number for next steps for some other things and have no idea if it might take 10 days or a month! Just curious. I do know after 5 days or so I can try and track it online.