Many health care consumers still don’t know how to evaluate thearray of plan choices offered to them during the annual fallenrollment period. This may be particularlytrue of those evaluating plans for prescription drug costs.

The online health plan evaluation firm eHealth reviewed planselection choices from 22,000 people during last year’s Medicareplan enrollment period. Because these health plan members usedeHealth’s online tools to aid in their plan selection, eHealth wasable to track and analyze their choices as they navigated throughthe selection process.

The big takeaway from the analysis: users were not selecting theprescription drug plans that would save them the most money.

“Among users, the study found that only five percent of peopleon Medicare were in the Medicare plan that provided the lowesttotal out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs,” eHealthreported.

Additionally, due to their choices, eHealth estimated that 42percent of Medicare customers would fall into Medicare’scoverage donut hole in 2014. Had people consistently selected thelowest cost prescription drug plan option, only 19 percentwould have hit the hole.

Other findings from the eHealth analysis:

• 11 percent of MA-PD plan enrollees who used eHealth’s plancomparison tool were in the lowest cost plan. Potential 2014savings had they switched to the lowest cost plan: $218.
• 3 percent of those in standalone PDPs were in the lowest-costplan. Potential savings had they switched: $961.
• 58 percent of all consumers in the study would avoid theMedicare donut hole if they simply maintained their 2013 planchoices into 2014. Had they switched to the lowest cost plan in2014, 81 percent would have avoid the donut hole.

One good sign revealed by the data: Consumers were searching forgeneric (usually less expensive) versions of brand nameprescription drugs using the online tools. Top 10 searches for thefollowing generics:

1. Omeprazole DR, a generic version of Prilosec, commonly used totreat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
2. Amlodipine Besylate, a generic version of Norvasc, commonlyused to treat high blood pressure
3. Simvastatin, a generic version of Zocor, commonly used to treathigh cholesterol
4. Clopidogrel, a generic version of Plavix, commonly used totreat coronary artery disease
5. Metformin, a generic version of Glucophage, commonly used totreat type II diabetes
6. Tamsulosin, a generic version of Flomax, commonly used to treatsymptoms of enlarged prostate
7. Hydrochlorothiazide, a generic version of Dyazide, commonlyused to treat hypertension
8. Fluticasone, a generic version of Flonase, commonly used totreat asthma and allergic rhinitis
9. Atorvastatin, a generic version of Lipitor, commonly used totreat high cholesterol
10. Hydrochlorothiadize, a generic version of Norvasc, commonlyused to treat high blood pressure

“The price a Medicare beneficiary pays for his or herprescription drugs can change significantly because many Medicareprescription drug plans change the pricing, benefit tiers andformularies of their drug plans from year to year,” eHealth noted.“Any one of these changes may affect what an enrollee pays out ofpocket for his or her drugs on the same PDP or MA-PD from one yearto the next. In some cases, the lowest-cost plan for an enrollee'spersonal drug regimen in one year may not be the lowest-cost planin the following year.”