The U.S. Department of Health and Health Services (HHS) has bragged about stability in Medicare Part D prescription drug plan prices — but the number of drugs the average plan covers is falling.

Kev Coleman, an analyst at HealthPocket, has quantified the drop in an analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the arm of HHS that runs the Medicare Part D plan program and the Medicare Advantage health plan program.

The 2015 private Medicare plan open enrollment period starts Wednesday. 

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor's insurance editor, previously was LifeHealthPro's health insurance editor. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Think_Allison.