Medicare Recipients in Northwest Michigan Now Have More Options for Health Care Coverage

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., October 13, 2006) Medicare recipients in eleven northwest Michigan counties will now have a choice when considering Medicare health care coverage.  Beginning immediately, recipients in Antrim, Benzie, Crawford, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Manistee, Montcalm, Muskegon, Oceana and Osceola counties join recipients in Kent, Ottawa, and Allegan with a choice of Medicare health care plans from Priority Health. For a free informational brochure, recipients can call 888 389-6676 or visit www.priorityhealth.com/medicare online.

"Each of us has a family member or a friend who has struggled with the rising cost of health care," said Kimberly K. Horn, president and CEO for Priority Health, "and no one has been hit harder than the Medicare population. That is why we are offering northwest Michigan recipients with greater choice for affordable options to the care and services they need."
 
Recipients may choose from three Medicare plans. They include:

• PriorityMedicare^SM is a Medicare Advantage plan that provides recipients with medical coverage including preventive health services and Part D prescription drug coverage.  
• PriorityMedicarePlus^SM offers the same medical coverage as PriorityMedicare with enhanced Part D prescription drug coverage.  
• PriorityMedicareRx^SM is a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan.  It is available to all Medicare-eligible residents in the state of Michigan for a low monthly premium.        

Medicare recipients may enroll in Priority Health's Medicare plans from November 15 through December 31, 2006.  Per federal regulations, those Medicare-eligible individuals who wait to enroll after the December 31, 2006, deadline may pay a penalty.

More information on Priority Health's Medicare plans is available online at www.priorityhealth.com/medicare or by calling 888 389-6676.

About Priority Health:
Priority Health is a nationally recognized health plan company based in Michigan. It serves more than 460,000 members with a broad portfolio of products including HMOs, PPOs, HSAs, Medicaid, and Medicare. Priority Health is a non-profit company dedicated to providing all people access to affordable health care. It is consistently ranked among the nation's best health plans by U.S. News & World Report. For more information about Priority Health, visit priorityhealth.com.