6 When Will You Pay a Higher Premium (Penalty) To Join a Medicare Drug Plan? Since the coverage under $5000 HDHP Plan , is not creditable, depending on how long you go without creditable prescription drug coverage you may pay a penalty to join a Medicare drug plan. Starting with the end of the last month that you were first eligible to join a Medicare drug plan but didn’t join, if you go 63 continuous days or longer without prescription drug coverage that’s creditable, your monthly premium may go up by at least 1% of the Medicare base beneficiary premium per month for every month that you did not have that coverage. For example, if you go nineteen months without creditable coverage, your premium may consistently be at least 19% higher than the Medicare base beneficiary premium. You may have to pay this higher premium (penalty) as long as you have Medicare prescription drug coverage. In addition, you may have to wait until the following October to join. What Happens to Your Current Coverage If You Decide to Join a Medicare Drug Plan? If you decide to join a Medicare drug plan, your current Snellings Walters coverage may be affected. You may keep this coverage if you elect part D and this plan will coordinate with Part D coverage. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/prescription-drug-coverage/creditablecoverage) If you do decide to join a Medicare drug plan and drop your current Snellings Walters coverage, be aware that you and your dependents will not be able to re-enroll in this coverage outside of Open Enrollment or a Qualifying Life Event. For More Information About This Notice or Your Current Prescription Drug Coverage Contact the person at the beginning of this notice. Note: You’ll get this notice each year. You will also get it before the next period you can join a Medicare drug plan and if this coverage through Snellings Walters changes. You also may request a copy of this notice at any time. For More Information About Your Options Under Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage For more information about Medicare prescription drug coverage: x Visit www.medicare.gov x Call your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (see the inside back cover of your copy of the “Medicare & You” handbook for their telephone number) for personalized help x Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. If you have limited income and resources, extra help paying for Medicare prescription drug coverage is available. For information about this extra help, visit Social Security on the web at ssa.gov, or call them at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Remember: Keep this non-Creditable Coverage notice. If you decide to join one of the Medicare drug plans, you may be required to provide a copy of this notice when you join to show whether or not you have maintained creditable coverage and, therefore, whether or not you are required to pay a higher premium (a penalty).