Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Reminder

By November 15: Send out Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notices

By November 15: Send out Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notices

The Medicare Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice is designed to help Medicare eligible individuals decide whether or not to enroll in a Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan. The open enrollment period for Medicare Prescription Drug plans is November 15 to December 31. Part D Drug Coverage begins on January 1. The Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice tells Medicare eligible individuals who are covered by an employer group health plan whether the prescription drug coverage available under the employer group health plan is comparable to the prescription drug coverage that would be available to them under a standard Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan. Most employer group health plans provide Creditable Coverage (that is, coverage for prescription drugs that is equal to or better than the prescription drug coverage available under a standard Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan) so most Medicare eligible individuals who are actively working and enrolled in the company group health plan will be better off if they do not enroll in a Part D plan.

In June, 2008 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made some minor updates to last year's model notice; a word version of the new model creditable coverage notice can be found here.

Providing notices electronically
A Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice must be delivered to all Medicare eligible employees, spouses and dependents who are enrolled or eligible to enroll in the employer group health plan, possibly including individuals who are disabled, on COBRA, or retired. To ensure that no Medicare eligible individual is missed, many employers simply mail the notice to the households of all employees who are eligible to enroll in the employer group health plan.

Employers may provide creditable coverage disclosure notices electronically to health plan participants who have the ability to access electronic documents at their regular place of work without their consent – as long as they have electronic access on a daily basis as part of their work duties. If electronic disclosure is used, participants must be informed that they are responsible

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