Medicare Saver

I got an email last week asking me to have a look at, and maybe blog about, the following:

Hi, I am part of the team of local independent medical and technology
professionals that have just created an online Medicare Part D tool to help
even the playing field for seniors and independent physicians and
pharmacists.  Having created this baby we realized we have no idea how to
let people know about it.  So I was wondering if you might write a review
of us in your blog.The concept is simple.  The client simply enters their
location and drugs and we search for lower cost medications and list the
plans available to them with detailed pricing and restriction information.
It is free, confidential, and takes about 5-10 minutes.  The site is
www.MedicareSaver.com.

I’m all for things that help people make better decisions, so I’ve had a somewhat quick look around, and I generally like it (my gripe’s at the end).

It’s a very professionally done site, navigation couldn’t be easier.  It starts by asking your Zip code, and explains that “Medicare calculates your coverage by your location”, which drives the rest of the decisions inherent in the program.

When you get to step two, entering the medications, there’s the inherent problem with medication name entering: multiple non-sensical names for medications.  For instance, type in ‘metoprolol’ and the following appears:

I’m a doctor and I had to study the choices to make the choice I wanted.  This isn’t a slam on the Medicare saver people, it’s just one example of how this isn’t super-simple (and I don’t know how to make it more simple).

Where I think this site is very useful is the graphical presentation of Part D plans in your area, recommending the least expensive at the top:

And, I can compare all 56 plans, should I want to.  It’ll then ask some questions to check your eligibility, and spit out an answer (I’m not eligible).

This is a good site for a lot of Medicare-covered people, and I’d recommend it as a starting place for discussions about medications with their doctors, and to shop Part D plans.

The MedicareSaver people want to tailor this product for physician practices and pharmacies (they need income too), so if you’re one of those, have a look.

My gripe: the professionally done, entirely understandable talking head at the top of every page cannot be shut off.  It’s not optional.  I really hate audio that plays automatically when I open any web page, and think if you’re going to do that you have to put in a mechanism to turn it off.  I emailed the site builder and mentioned this, and was told this is a deliberate decision based on some Seniors having relatively diminished sight.  Okay, but it still needs a way to shut it off.

That’s not enough to have me pan the whole product: it’s good, and I’d recommend it for the Medicare eligible.

(I have no financial or other entanglement in this product, I just think it’d be useful).