What Happens To Your Current Coverage If You Decide to Join A Medicare Drug Plan? If you decide to join a Medicare drug plan, your current Village of Pinehurst coverage may be affected. Your current coverage pays for other health expenses in addition to prescription drug. See the Village of Pinehurst Benefits Guide for plan details. If you are, or become, eligible for Medicare drug coverage, you can keep your current Insurance Carrier coverage and the plan may coordinate with Medicare drug plan coverage. If your employer group health plan includes prescription drug coverage with medical coverage and you drop the employer prescription drug coverage, you will lose both medical and prescription drug coverage. If you are covered as an active employee and decide to join a Medicare drug plan and drop your employer’s coverage, be aware that you and your dependents will only be able to get this coverage back at the annual open enrollment if you are still eligible for employer coverage at that time. If you are retired or on COBRA and decide to join a Medicare drug plan and you drop the employer coverage, be aware that you and any previously covered dependents will not be able to get this coverage back. When Will You Pay A Higher Premium (Penalty) To Join A Medicare Drug Plan? You should also know that if you drop or lose your current coverage with the Village of Pinehurst and don’t join a Medicare drug plan within 63 continuous days after your current coverage ends, you may pay a higher premium (a penalty) to join a Medicare drug plan later. If you go 63 continuous days or longer without creditable prescription drug coverage, your monthly premium may go up by at least 1% of the Medicare base beneficiary premium per month for every month that you did not have that coverage. For example, if you go nineteen months without creditable coverage, your premium may consistently be at least 19% higher than the Medicare base beneficiary premium. You may have to pay this higher premium (a penalty) as long as you have Medicare prescription drug coverage. In addition, you may have to wait until the following October to join. For More Information About This Notice Or Your Current Prescription Drug Coverage… Contact the person listed below for further information. NOTE: You’ll get this notice each year. You will also get it before the next period you can join a Medicare drug plan, and if this coverage through the Village of Pinehurst changes. You also may request a copy of this notice at any time.
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs