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Stand-Alone Medi-Pak Rx Enrollment Suspension

We recently learned that the Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP) will be under an enrollment suspension for plan-year 2018. Most agents have already been trained on our 2018 senior products, which include stand-alone Medi-Pak Rx Basic and Premier. There are two points we would like to emphasize before we go into more detail:

  1. Current Rx Basic and Rx Premier members are not impacted by this enrollment suspension. We cannot market our stand-alone drug plans to new members while under this suspension.
  2. The suspension has no impact whatsoever on marketing Medi-Pak Advantage PFFS and HMO plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve anticipated some questions that you or your clients may have regarding the PDP enrollment suspension for plan-year 2018.

Q: Did Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also place an enrollment suspension on Arkansas Blue Cross Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement plans?

A: No. The enrollment suspensions only apply to Medi-Pak Rx Basic and Premier stand-alone drug plans. There are no restrictions on our Medicare Advantage PFFS, Medicare Advantage HMO or Medicare supplement plans for 2018.

Q: Will current members’ Medi-Pak Rx plan be canceled?

A: No, existing Medi-Pak Rx Basic or Premier members will have their plans continue in 2018.

Q: Will there be any changes to current Medi-Pak Rx plans as a result of the CMS enrollment suspension?

A: No. Existing Medi-Pak Rx plans will not change as a result of the CMS enrollment suspension. In fact, both the Basic and Premier Rx plans will have lower monthly premiums in 2018 than in 2017.

Current members received an annual notice of change (ANOC) packet in the mail at the end of September that outlined the plan changes for 2018. The copayments, coinsurance, deductible, formulary (drug list) and pharmacy network changes reflected in the ANOC were standard plan changes similar to the updates that have been made to Medi-Pak Rx in recent years.

Current Medi-Pak Rx members will only have one restriction in 2018: they’re not able to move from the Basic to the Premier plan and vice versa.