How to compare Medicare plans for a parent during open enrollment

Your dad's plan sent a thick envelope in September, and it's still sitting under the fruit bowl. Inside is the Annual Notice of Change, which says what his plan will cost and cover next year. Medicare open enrollment runs October 15 to December 7, 2026, and whatever he's enrolled in on December 7 is what he lives with from January 1. One careful evening is enough to do this well.

Gather three things before you open a browser

The comparison is only as good as what you type in. Sit down with your parent, or with their permission, and collect:

• The exact drug list. Name, strength and how often, straight from the bottle labels. "The blood pressure pill" won't do; 25 mg twice a day is a different price from 50 mg once a day.
• The pharmacies they actually use. The corner pharmacy, and whether mail order is an option they'd accept.
• The doctors they won't give up. Primary care, any specialists, and the hospital they'd want to go to.

Also skim the Annual Notice of Change for anything flagged as changing: premium, deductible, a drug moving to a higher tier, or a doctor leaving the network.

Run the numbers in Medicare's Plan Finder

The official tool lives at Medicare.gov ("Find health & drug plans"). Logging in to your parent's Medicare account pulls in their current drugs, but you can also search as a guest.

1. Enter the ZIP code and drugs. Add every prescription with the right dose and quantity.
2. Pick up to five pharmacies. Prices can differ a lot between preferred and standard pharmacies in the same plan.
3. Sort by "Lowest drug + premium cost." This is the number that matters: the estimated total for the whole year.
4. Open the top three plans. For each one, check that every drug is on the formulary and note its tier, plus any prior authorization, step therapy or quantity limits.
5. For Medicare Advantage plans, check that each must-keep doctor and hospital is in network, and note the plan's yearly out-of-pocket maximum for medical care.

The cheapest premium is rarely the cheapest year; compare the total.

A useful anchor: in 2027, out-of-pocket spending on covered Part D drugs is capped at $2,400, up from $2,100 in 2026, and the standard deductible can be up to $700. If your parent hits the cap every year, the plan with the lowest premium may genuinely win. If they take two cheap generics, a $0 premium plan with a deductible might cost less than one with "no deductible."

Decide, enroll and keep a record

• Staying put is a choice too. If the current plan still covers everything at a similar total, doing nothing renews it.
• Enroll through Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Write down the confirmation number and the date.
• Ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan if big drug costs early in the year would strain the budget. It spreads out-of-pocket drug costs into monthly payments; the plan can explain how it works.
• Missed something? People in Medicare Advantage get one more switch between January 1 and March 31, either to another Advantage plan or back to Original Medicare.

If the choices still feel tangled, your state's SHIP program offers free, unbiased one-on-one Medicare counseling (find yours at shiphelp.org). It also helps to read our guide on keeping a medication list for a parent, because that list is the single most important input here.

The drug list is the part that goes wrong most often, and Caregiver Ledger makes it easier. Point your iPhone at each prescription bottle and it reads the drug name, strength and schedule off the label, so you're typing the real doses into Plan Finder, not guesses. Its visit packet turns the current med list into a printable PDF you can bring to a SHIP counselor or AirDrop to a sibling. It's free, with no subscription and no account, and the data stays on that phone.

Do it once with a good list, and next October's review takes twenty minutes.