Experts Explain Changes to 2026 Medicare Part D and How to get the Best ‘Bang for Your Buck’
Published October 28, 2025
With Medicare prescription-drug benefits changing in 2026, Part D drug plan beneficiaries need to be aware of options in order to minimize their costs at the pharmacy counter in the coming months. Sponsored by the Alliance and produced in partnership with The Hill, the program, “Bang for Your Buck: Get the Most from Your 2026 Medicare Drug Benefits” detailed changes in store for the Medicare Part D drug plans, resources available to help beneficiaries to get the most out of their plans, and timely conversations about the urgent need to reopen the federal government so programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can help older adults.
Following a showing of the Alliance’s latest educational film, What to Know About Managing Your Medicare Prescription Drug Costs in 2026, Alliance Director of Public Policy and Government Relations Adina Lasser kicked off the event with the sponsor segment interview with Sarah Katt, Senior Vice President of Programming at The Hill, stressing that the Congressional gridlock is causing a dire public health crisis because SNAP benefits will be frozen in the next week.
“Seven million older adults struggle with food insecurity, and SNAP is our best tool for making sure that we’re fighting hunger and malnutrition,” Lasser said, adding that the Alliance urges Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to dip into a fund to keep the program running in the interim.
Lasser also detailed need for beneficiaries to be aware of changes to their 2026 Part D plans: changes in premiums, a $2,100 cap on out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, and the continued opportunity to smooth out-of-pocket costs into monthly payments over the plan year via the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan.
“This is the year of any year to shop around,” Lasser said about Part D plans. “Beneficiaries in Medicare will often choose a plan and stay on that plan for the rest of their lives. Every year it costs you money to not do an active comparison, but this year especially because there are so many changes coming to the program it’s the year to take a look at it.”
For the headliner interview, Kathleen Koch, Contributing Editor of The Hill spoke with Kirsten Axelsen, Senior Policy Advisor at DLA Piper, about how the Inflaton Reduction Act is fueling changes and shared her health economist standpoint.
“The Inflation Reduction Act feels more emotional than economic. Targeting drugs already deeply discounted doesn’t save money—it shifts costs elsewhere,” she said. “It’s not a thoughtful reform; it’s a punitive one.”
Later in the segment, Axelsen spoke on potential shortages of medications. “When you start losing your choices, then you start losing the ability to pay for what you need…”
A panel discussion, moderated by Koch, included the following panelists:
- Julia Schrieber, Program Director, Maryland Department of Aging; Administrator, Maryland State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP): “Generally speaking, it [the biggest challenges are] is complexity and misinformation. Making these decisions each year is not simple; you’ve got formularies and tiering and coverage phases and those are all technical things that you need to have a grasp of in order to make informed decisions. So one of the challenges is putting information about health insurance into plain language so that beneficiaries are empowered to make these decisions themselves.”
- Jon Blum, Nonresident Senior Scholar, USC Schaeffer Institute: “The oversight, the management, the delivery of benefits are things that need to be done by human beings. And that’s not currently in place…”
- Kristi Martin, Director, Health Care, Camber Collective; Former Senior Advisor & Chief of Staff, CMS: “In 2026, people are really lacking some predictability… let’s try to create some dialogue, but also some certainty for the future.”
- Dr. Phillip Duncan, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine & Member, Association of Black Cardiologists, on the cost barrier to critical treatments for Medicare beneficiaries: “High out-of-pocket [drug] cost is a travesty because we have so many wonderful therapies available to patients…”
Watch the full recording and read a recap from The Hill.
Photos by Craig Hudson.