PacifiCare Announces Significantly Enhanced Prescription Drug Benefits for Its 730,000 Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage Member
September 28 2005 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
* Affordable, Flexible Prescription Drug Coverage Available in
Eight Western States Covering 82 Counties CYPRESS, Calif., Sept. 28
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. (NYSE:PHS)
announced that all of its Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage plans
have been approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) to offer Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug
(MA-PD) plans for 2006. These plans will provide significantly
enhanced prescription-drug benefits for its 730,000 Medicare
Advantage members in eight states and 82 counties. When the
Medicare prescription-drug benefit (also known as Part D) goes into
effect Jan. 1, 2006, all Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage plan
members will automatically be provided with this important Medicare
drug benefit enhancement. These MA-PD plans combine the medical
coverage traditionally provided by Medicare Advantage plans with
Medicare's new Part D prescription drug benefit. This combination
will provide even more comprehensive medical benefits than today's
Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage plans. In addition, Secure
Horizons has been approved to offer new, enhanced plans that
provide lower out-of-pocket costs on major medical services, with
the added benefit of prescription drug coverage in the Medicare
coverage gap. PacifiCare currently offers its Secure Horizons
Medicare Advantage plans in eight Western states including Arizona,
California, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington and
Texas covering 82 counties. According to Kathy Feeny, Secure
Horizons' executive vice president, most Secure Horizons Medicare
Advantage plans have provided prescription drug benefits to its
members for the past 20 years. The addition of the Medicare
prescription drug benefit expands this coverage substantially. "We
believe our members will realize tremendous value in our new
Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug plans and appreciate the
enhanced prescription drug benefit with lower out-of-pocket costs,"
said Feeny. "The Part D prescription drug benefit is integrated
into our members' health care coverage. Our current Secure Horizons
Medicare Advantage members need not do anything to begin taking
advantage of their new Medicare prescription drug benefit. They do
not need to sign up or fill out any paperwork; they are
automatically enrolled as part of their Secure Horizons
membership." PacifiCare expects that nearly all of its Secure
Horizons Medicare Advantage members will experience an enhanced
benefit plan in 2006 vs. what they currently have. For example,
members in 79 counties will have plans offering a $0 deductible for
their Part D prescription drug benefit. Nearly two-thirds of
PacifiCare's counties -- 75 percent of Secure Horizons total
membership -- will have monthly premiums that are the same as or
lower than their 2005 premiums, even after the addition of the
prescription drug benefit. Also, 70 percent of members who reside
in 38 counties will continue to have a $0 premium for their
combined medical and prescription drug benefits. And, in 13
counties, members will see a decrease in their monthly premium from
2005. All Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage members will have
access to hundreds more brand-name and generic drugs for lower
co-payments than those provided under their current Medicare
Advantage plans. "Under the Medicare Advantage-Prescription Drug
program, we are able to enhance their prescription drug coverage
beyond that which they normally have today," said Feeny.
"Additionally, we believe that our members will receive
prescription drug benefits under the MA-PD program that are more
comprehensive and affordable than the standalone Part D benefit
available to those covered by original, fee-for-service Medicare."
Through the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, Medicare
beneficiaries are guaranteed access to prescription drugs. In
addition to providing a new Part D prescription drug benefit, the
Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act,
passed by Congress in December 2003, increased funding for Medicare
Advantage (formerly Medicare+Choice) health plans. PacifiCare used
the additional funds to add new and enhance existing benefits,
lower -- and in some cases, eliminate -- premiums and co-payments,
and stabilize its networks of doctors and hospitals. "Congress has
modernized the Medicare program, and together with the federal
government we are taking action to make prescription drugs more
affordable for seniors," Feeny added. "We have enhanced benefits in
areas that members tell us are the most important to them. The
additional funding also presents us with opportunities to expand
our Medicare Advantage service area and to launch new, innovative
programs." In 1985, PacifiCare's Secure Horizons became one of the
first Medicare health plans to be awarded a Medicare Risk contract
by the federal government. Twenty years later, Secure Horizons
remains one of the nation's largest Medicare Advantage plans,
offering competitive health care coverage and additional benefits
to nearly 730,000 members in eight Western states. PacifiCare
Health Systems is one of the nation's largest consumer health
organizations with nearly 3.3 million health plan members and
approximately 11.3 million specialty plan members nationwide.
PacifiCare offers individuals, employers and Medicare beneficiaries
a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance
products. Today, PacifiCare is the nation's second-largest senior
health insurance company with more than 20 years' experience
delivering affordable, quality health care coverage to America's
seniors. PacifiCare's specialty plan operations include behavioral
health and dental and vision, as well as complete pharmacy benefit
management with more than a decade of experience specializing in
the senior prescription-drug market. More information on PacifiCare
Health Systems is available at http://www.pacificare.com/.
DATASOURCE: PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. CONTACT: Cheryl
Randolph, +1-714-226-3441, , or Dan Miller, +1-714-226-3726, , both
Media Relations of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. Web site:
http://www.pacificare.com/
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