The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 requires employers who offer prescription drug coverage to provide an annual notice to all Medicare Part D eligible individuals who are participants in, or eligible for, the employer’s prescription drug coverage indicating whether such coverage is creditable before October 15^th of each year. “Creditable coverage” means that the prescription drug coverage offered by an employer plan is expected to pay, on average for all plan participants, as much as the standard Medicare prescription drug coverage pays. Prescription drug coverage is “non-creditable” when it is not expected to pay, on average for all plan participants, as much as the standard Medicare prescription drug coverage pays.

The notice must be furnished regardless of whether the employer plan pays primary or secondary to Medicare, and must be sent to all Part D eligible individuals including retirees, actives, COBRA beneficiaries and dependents of such individuals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provides Model Disclosure Notices for creditable and non-creditable coverage.

Charnae Supplee, a law clerk in the Firm’s Washington, DC office, also contributed to this article.