General Discussion

Lifelong penalties for not enrolling in time are set out in the Medicare laws. Caps on out-of-pocket expenses. The donut hole, etc.

Yes, it is administered by private insurance companies - as is Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage plans). I don't like that reality - but the fact that I don't like doesn't make the plans not part of Medicare.

As for prices - my drug plan costs exactly what it did last year: $0/month. My spouse's premium has gone up, but only because we switched plans. Her overall cost (premiums + out-of pocket costs) - for one more drug than she was taking last year - is about $400 lower for the year. I compared all of the plans available to us. My overall costs are slightly lower than last year, and across the board, my spouses are dramatically lower. I had expected the premiums to be higher because of the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap. But even though the premiums are higher on some plans there is considerably less variation in the drug prices from plan to plan - and even in comparison to drugs purchased via GoodRx or Costco membership prices - where we have bought over half of our meds for the last 3 years. It was a very unexpected and pleasant surprise.