06/23/2006 MedAdvantage + Rx Premium Payment Update

We appreciate your continued patience with the delays that the federal government has been experiencing in deducting MedAdvantage and Part D premiums from enrollees’ Social Security checks. As you know, response to Part D plans has been enthusiastic and somewhat overwhelming – in fact, nearly 30 million eligible individuals nationwide have enrolled under a Part D plan as of April 2006.

As a result, delays have been longer than expected. Also, some enrollees are not able to pay with Social Security deductions at all because their monthly Social Security payments aren’t large enough to cover the past-due amount in one check.

Regence and other local carriers are working diligently with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to resolve these issues and develop billing alternatives. Furthermore, we will not expect our members to pay full past-due premiums at one time. In addition to working with them to bring their payments up to date, we will also offer to help them set up automatic checking or savings withdrawals for future premium payments.

While CMS has already contacted impacted enrollees, we will also begin sending out our own communications to our members on June 26. Members whose Social Security deductions have been delayed will receive one letter, while we will send a slightly different letter to members whose Social Security payments cannot absorb the initial double-premium deduction.

We’re sure that the delay associated with processing will become shorter in the future. However, to avoid this complication for other clients and to give CMS the opportunity to catch up with the requests it is currently handling, please consider encouraging new MedAdvantage and Part D clients to choose another payment option for the time being. Also, in the future, please explain the delay to all MedAdvantage and Part D clients and, if they are considering Social Security withdrawals, have them verify that their Social Security payment is large enough to accommodate the initial double-month premium.

If you have any questions, please call your Asuris Sales contact.

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