The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) added prescription drug coverage to Medicare (Medicare Part D), beginning on January 1, 2006. Medicares elderly and disabled beneficiaries can enroll in private plans that contract with Medicare to provide the drug benefit.People on Medicare can obtain the Medicare drug benefitthrough two types of private plans. Beneficiaries can join a prescription drug plan (PDP) for drug coverage only and get their other Medicare benefits through the fee-for-service program, as the majority of people with Medicare currently do. Alternatively they can join a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, such as an HMO or regional PPO, that covers drugs and all other Medicare benefits. Private plans can operate in one or more of 34 PDP regions and 26 MA regions nationwide.
For more information, visit Kaiser's Resources on the Medicare Drug Benefit, available at http://www.kff.org/medicare/rxdrugbenefit.cfm.

Please see http://www.kff.org/medicare/7986.cfm for data on American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Kaiser Family Foundation/Georgetown/NORC analysis of CMS PDP Landscape Source Files, 2006-2010. Available at: http://www.kff.org/medicare/7986.cfm.

PDPs: Prescription Drug Plans.
Minimum and maximum premiums are the premiums for any PDP offered by any sponsoring organization in the geographic area of interest. Please note that the premium shown for the U.S. is not necessarily available in every PDP region.

Weighted average premiums are based on total enrollment for 2009 for the region in which a state is located.