Blue Cross Pharmacy Partnership Improves Medicare Offerings
Blues Perspectives
| 2 min read
The prescription drug coverage you receive from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network may be the part of your health care plan that you and your employees use most often. To add more value — and help you and your retirees manage costs — Blue Cross and BCN are making improvements to Medicare prescription drug plans that you’ll see beginning Jan. 1, 2023.
In January, OptumRx® will be the new pharmacy benefit manager for members with Medicare plans through Blue Cross and BCN. We’ll continue to provide retirees of businesses like yours with access to medication from a nationwide pharmacy network, including 2,300 pharmacies in Michigan, and 65,000 pharmacies across the country. These improvements will strengthen our ability to bring you affordable, creative solutions for improving care.
Blue Cross has been sending letters and emails to you and your retirees about these improvements.
“When your retirees go to pick up their prescriptions — or have their medications delivered to their homes — they’ll have confidence that their prescription drug coverage will help them get the medicine they need,” said Steve Marciniak, R.Ph., vice president of Pharmacy, Senior Health Services at Blue Cross.
Here’s how this new collaboration will benefit you and your business:
- Our lowest net cost strategy
- More flexibility in benefit structure
- Improved prescription drug pricing and rebates for all individuals and group businesses with Medicare plans through Blue Cross and BCN as of Jan. 1, 2023
- Access to a robust nationwide pharmacy network
- A single health care solution: one ID card, one account, one app and one customer service team
Here’s what’s next:
- Each Medicare member enrolled in a health plan with pharmacy benefits will receive a new member ID card before the end of the year for use starting Jan. 1.
- Optum Home Delivery will become the new mail order pharmacy for Medicare members starting Jan. 1. Most mail-order prescriptions will automatically transfer to OptumHome Delivery, but some members may need to see their doctors for new prescriptions to continue to receive them through the mail. That’s the case if their prescription is expired or has no remaining refills or if their medicine is a controlled substance.
- Online member account pharmacy pages at www.bcbsm.com/medicare and in the BCBSM mobile app will be updated.
If you have questions about our pharmacy plan improvements, call your Blue Cross and BCN sales representative or contracted agent.
Photo credit: Getty Images
