After Outcry, Medicare Restores Calculator to Help Seniors Find Lowest-Priced Drug Plans

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has restored its total-cost calculator to help seniors enrolled in Medicare find the cheapest drug plans, following a national surge of protest when the agency launched an overhauled drug insurance website that lacked the tool, reports the Boston Globe . The calculator is the most-used feature of the Medicare Plan Finder, but an upgrade advertised as "simple and intuitive" omitted the calculator. CMS representatives claimed last month that the total-cost calculator "is a feature that has always been on our list to include, but couldn't be completed in time" for the public unveiling of the updated plan finder. Now CMS has posted a new total-cost calculator, less than a week before the annual open enrollment period starts. The protest helped pressure the agency to put the new calculator online before the frenzy of seniors who switch drug plans during open enrollment, according to Howard Houghton, a volunteer at the state health insurance assistance program in Harrisonburg, Va.