The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides a great resource for Medicare beneficiaries to use when comparing Medicare health plans. The Plan Finder tool can produce personalized results to help you whether you are assessing your options to find the health insurance plan that best fits your budget and needs or reinforcing your Medicare coverage decision.

Here is the information you can get about a plan by using the Plan Finder tool:

Estimated annual drug costs
If you enter your prescription drugs in the tool, you can get an idea of what your drug costs will be for retail or mail order.

Monthly premium
You can see what you will pay each month for drug cost premiums and medical coverage.

Deductibles
The tool will show you what your annual drug deductible, health plan deductible, and drug copay/co-insurance will be.

Health benefits
You will learn how a plan covers a visit to a doctor’s office and what your out-of-pocket spending limit will be (the most you will ever have to spend per year on medical costs).

Drug coverage, drug restrictions and other programs
The tool’s results will show you all the drugs on the plan’s formulary and any restrictions surrounding them. You’ll also see if there are ways to lower your drug cost share through pharmaceutical assistance programs. In addition, you can learn if the plan offers a Medication Therapy Management program to help you get the most benefit from your medications.

Estimated annual health and drug costs
You can see an estimate of the average amount you might expect to spend each year for plan coverage; costs for premiums, copayments, deductibles and co-insurance; and costs not covered by your insurance.

Overall Star rating
The tool will show you the plan’s Star rating. Star ratings are given out each year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and are based on a number of criteria, including how consumers rate their own plan. Medicare plans can be assigned anywhere from one to five stars, with one being poor and five being excellent.

For a step-by-step guide to using the Plan Finder, visit our Medicare Learning Center and check out How to Use Medicare.gov’s Plan Finder.