Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has worked with other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut to offer you Blue Medicare Rx, a Medicare Part D prescription plan. Blue Medicare Rx is available to Medicare recipients living in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut and is administered by Anthem Wellpoint, a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan.

Blue Medicare Rx must be purchased separately from your Medicare or supplemental Medicare coverage. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, such as Medicare HMO Blue (Blue Care 65) or Medicare PPO Blue and have elected to include prescription coverage with your plan, you do not need to consider purchasing Blue Medicare Rx.

However, if you get your Medicare coverage through Original Medicare or a supplemental Medicare plan (such as our Medex Core or Medex Bronze plans) you might want to consider purchasing Blue Medicare Rx. To learn more about Blue Medicare Rx or to learn if your medications are covered under the Blue Medicare Rx formulary, you can visit the the Blue Medicare Rx website.

If you decide that Blue Medicare Rx is right for you, and choose to enroll, you need to know that it will replace your existing Medicare Drug Discount card. As soon as you enroll in Blue Medicare Rx, you will want to discard your existing Drug Discount Card and use your Blue Medicare Rx Member ID card.

If you do not enroll in any kind of Medicare Part D prescription plan, it's important that you know your Medicare Drug Discount Card will no longer be valid after May 15, 2006. If you don't join a plan before that date, and you don't currently have creditable prescription coverage (that is a plan, which, on average, covers at least as much as standard Medicare prescription coverage) you will have to wait until November 15, 2006 to join.

If you wait until after May 15, 2006, your premium cost will go up at least 1% per month for every month that you wait to join and did not maintain creditable coverage. This penalty is imposed by the federal government. For more information about enrolling after the deadline, please visit the government's Medicare website at www.medicare.gov and go to the Frequently Asked Questions section.