Every West Virginian eligible for Medicare will find value in the new Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and should give serious consideration to enrolling. To get this prescription coverage, you must sign up. Choose a Medicare-approved prescription drug plan in your area that meets your needs. Everyone in Medicare can enroll, and you won’t be turned down because of a pre-existing condition.

Take the time to decide if you should enroll. Contact a Medicare counselor at 1-800-MEDICARE, or visit www.medicare.gov between now and December 31 to begin receiving coverage January 1. You can also sign up through approved Medicare prescription drug plans or at local enrollment events. The last day to join a plan offering coverage for 2006 without penalty is May 15, 2006.

Low-income Medicare beneficiaries will save by enrolling in the new prescription drug coverage. Until now, West Virginia’s 73,000 low-income Medicare beneficiaries were without prescription drug coverage.1 Starting January, they’ll be eligible for coverage and will experience reduced or eliminated premiums, deductibles and cost-sharing. For example, a low-income beneficiary in West Virginia, with no previous prescription drug insurance and with annual drug spending of $1,949 prior to implementation of the plan, will pay an estimated $134 for the same medicines, saving $1,815, once enrolled in Medicare prescription drug insurance.

More About the Medicare Drug Plan

• Report: High Blood Pressure Treatment Helps Reduce Risk for West Virginia Seniors
  A new report shows that active treatment for hypertension, and increased access to medicines through the Medicare prescription drug plan, may help seniors avoid serious events like stroke.
  
  
• Medicare’s Prevention and Drug Benefits Will Work Together to Keep Beneficiaries Healthy
  The new preventive benefits go hand in hand with the Medicare prescription drug benefit and will help seniors optimize their care.