The following is important information you should know before making your medical plan and Medicare Part D choices. Medicare Part D is optional insurance coverage offered through Medicare for prescription drugs. This coverage is available for a monthly premium to any individual who has Medicare Part A or Part B.

• If you enroll in another Medicare Part D plan outside of the medical plans offered through the University of Minnesota, you will most likely lose your University medical plan. In this event, you will no longer be able to benefit from the University's group rates and benefits. All of the University's medical plans for retirees age 65 or over offer Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage directly through their medical plans to their members.
• The prescription drug coverage for each of the medical plans offered through the University is better coverage than that offered through Medicare Part D alone.
• You will be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part D as a participant in any of the medical plans offered through the University.
• The Medicare premium for Medicare Part D will be automatically included in the monthly premium you pay for your University medical plan.
• Medicare charges a penalty for late enrollment in Medicare Part D. If you are enrolled in a medical plan offered through the University and decide later — say, in 2010 — to leave this plan for one outside of the University, you will not be charged a penalty for late enrollment since you will have been enrolled in Medicare Part D under an employer-sponsored group.