With this year’s Medicare Annual Election Period overlapping with the
unrelated open enrollment for the new federal and state insurance
marketplaces, there’s a growing need to help Medicare beneficiaries
understand their health care coverage options when Medicare open
enrollment begins tomorrow. Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG)
pharmacists will serve as one of the most convenient and accessible
resources for Medicare Part D information, offering free, personalized
plan comparison reports at every location, every day, to help
beneficiaries evaluate the plans that may best meet their prescription
drug needs.
Walgreens prescription plan comparison report details each plan’s
estimated annual costs, including monthly premiums, brand and generic
co-pays and drugs covered through the coverage gap (donut hole).
Walgreens pharmacists will review the report to help Medicare
beneficiaries understand their coverage options, as well as the latest
information on Medicare, whether they’re selecting a plan for the first
time or evaluating if their current plan is still the best option. Plan
reviews will be available on a walk-in basis or by scheduling an
appointment at www.walgreens.com/medicare.
Walgreens is a part of Medicare preferred pharmacy networks with four
national Part D plan sponsors -Coventry Health Care, Humana,
UnitedHealthcare and WellCare. The preferred networks are designed to
offer Medicare beneficiaries additional options to save on their
prescription drugs.
Cost savings remains top of mind for many Medicare beneficiaries, as more
than one-third of those surveyed1 (37 percent)
are concerned about prescription drug costs, and 1-in-5 say they’ve made
sacrifices, such as delaying filling a prescription or skipping
doses to help manage medication costs.
“Many Medicare beneficiaries don’t fully understand certain aspects of
their health plan, including cost savings options, and some also become
non-adherent to medication therapies as a way to try to reduce costs,”
said Suzanne Hansen, Walgreens group vice president of pharmacy
operations. “The Medicare environment can be challenging to navigate,
and we anticipate an even greater need to help educate our customers
this year, given the changes that are taking place across the health
care landscape. Walgreens, as a preferred network provider, offers a
number of benefits, which may include savings of up to 75 percent on
prescription co-pays and our pharmacists are trusted experts who can
help beneficiaries understand their plan options.”
Walgreens is in the networks of hundreds of other Medicare prescription
drug plans for 2014, in addition to participating in the three national
preferred pharmacy networks. For more information, visit www.walgreens.com/medicare.
About Walgreens
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2013 sales of $72
billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com)
vision is to be the first choice in health and daily living for everyone
in America, and beyond. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million
customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and
services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness
services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of
pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility
and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services
improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers,
managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers
and the public sector. The company operates 8,123 drugstores in all 50
states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the
largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness
centers, provider practices, and in-store convenient care clinics, with
more than 750 locations throughout the country.
1 Walgreens survey conducted by KRC Research, April 2013. http://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5740
Copyright Business Wire 2013