Medicare’s open enrollment period takes place every fall. It begins on Oct. 15 and lasts until Dec. 7.

During this time, current enrollees can make changes to their prescription drug coverage. And doing so could result in nice savings for the coming year.

It’s especially important to try to lower your medication costs if you’ve been struggling to stretch your limited retirement income. Social Security just announced that benefits will only be rising by 2.5% in 2025. So it pays to do what you can to eke out savings, and moving over to a new Part D plan could achieve that goal.

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But the process of choosing a new Part D plan can be daunting. So with that in mind, here are a few tips for navigating it.

1. See what changes are coming to your current plan

Medicare Part D drug plans can change from one year to the next. At this point, you should’ve received a notice from your current plan informing you of any changes for 2025. If you didn’t get that notice, contact your plan administrator right away.

It may actually be that your current Part D plan is changing for the better. If that’s the case, then a switch to a new plan may not be necessary. But you can’t make that decision without having all of the information.

2. Figure out if you’ll be switching medications

Medicare Part D plans use formularies to classify drugs into different tiers. The higher the tier, the more you should expect to pay out of pocket.

Before you can make a smart Part D drug plan choice, you’ll need to know what your complete medication list looks like. To that end, get in touch with your providers and see what they want to do about your prescriptions. If your doctor is looking to have you start on a new pill in January, that’s something you’ll need to know about now.

3. Use Medicare’s plan finder to narrow down your choices

Medicare’s plan finder is a tool that allows you to see what Part D plans are available in your zip code. And the nice thing about that tool is that it lets you input your specific medications and dosages to see what costs you may be looking at under different plans.

Once you get a list of available plans in your area, pay attention to how they’re rated. Medicare Part D plans are rated from one to five stars, with five being an optimal score.

You don’t automatically have to steer clear of plans with lower ratings. But you may want to do some research before moving forward with any plan that doesn’t have at least three stars.

Choosing a Part D plan for 2025 is one of the most important financial moves you might make in the coming weeks, so take the time to review your options carefully. Even though Medicare open enrollment doesn’t wrap up until early December, you don’t want to wait too long to start looking at Part D plans. The sooner you get started, the less stressed you’re apt to be as you work through your choices.

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