Federal law requires all employers that offer group health coverage including any outpatient prescription drug benefits to provide an annual Medicare Part D Notice to plan participants, who are or may become eligible for Medicare in the next year. Participants include covered employees and retirees (and spouses) and COBRA enrollees. This notice requirement applies regardless of the employer’s size or whether the group plan is insured or self-funded.
Employers often do not know whether a particular participant may be eligible for Medicare due to age or disability. For convenience, many employers decide to distribute their notice to all participants regardless of Medicare status.
Medicare Part D Notices need to be provided before October 15.
Model notices are available on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website. Start with the model notice and then fill in the blanks and variable items as needed for each group health plan. There are two versions: Notice of Creditable Coverage or Notice of Noncreditable Coverage and each is available in English and Spanish.
Distributing the Notice(s):
You may distribute the notice by first-class mail to the employee’s home or work address. A separate notice for the employee’s spouse or family members is not required unless the employer has information that they live at different addresses.
The notice is intended to be a stand-alone document. It may be distributed at the same time as other plan materials, but it should be a separate document. If the notice is incorporated with other material (such as stapled items or in a booklet format), the notice must appear in 14-point font, be bolded, offset, or boxed, and placed on the first page. Alternatively, in this case, you can put a reference (in 14-point font, either bolded, offset, or boxed) on the first page telling the reader where to find the notice within the material. Here is suggested text from the CMS for the first page:
“If you (and/or your dependents) have Medicare or will become eligible for Medicare in the next 12 months, a Federal law gives you more choices about your prescription drug coverage. Please see page XX for more details.”
Email distribution is allowed but only for employees who have regular access to email as an integral part of their job duties. Employees also must have access to a printer and be notified that a hard copy of the notice is available at no cost upon request, and be informed that they are responsible for sharing the notice with any Medicare-eligible family members who are enrolled in the employer’s group plan.
As always, if you have additional questions, please contact your Account Executive.
