One of the actually useful bits of information that's come from a couple of apparently trustable sources (not from the government) relates to the implied demand that you must sign up now.

Penalties (higher rates) if you wait until after the "deadline" for this initial signup are rather drastic.

Penalties do not apply if you are already covered by an acceptable prescription insurance plan, as long as you keep your coverage under that, or another, qualified plan until you have some reason to sign up for one of the new deals.

If you have any existing coverage for medicines you should first check with your present insurer to verify that it is a "qualifying plan." If it is, most "disinterested" advisors are suggesting that you are probably better off with your present insurance until you have a reason to change.

There may be circumstances where you'd benefit from a change from a qualifying insurance to one of the new ones now, but in most cases existing plans will at least allow greater flexibility if your doc changes your medications.

There appears to be some flexibility in changing from one of the new plans to a different one of them, without the rate penalty, if your prescription needs change; so if you don't have qualified coverage now it probably is advisable that you sign up for "something cheap" just to keep the higher rates from being applied when you figure out what you need. This is a pretty fuzzy conclusion with present information though.

John