RxAmerica Serves Medicare Eligible

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- RxAmerica, a leading pharmacy

benefit management (PBM) company, announced today that it has contracted with

the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in

the Medicare Part D program, as a prescription drug plan sponsor, in 20

regions, covering 35 states and the District of Columbia. RxAmerica is a

wholly owned subsidiary of Longs Drug Stores Corporation (NYSE: LDG).

RxAmerica will provide prescription drug benefits to qualified individuals

beginning January 1, 2006, in the following 35 states: Alabama, Arizona,

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine,

Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon,

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, South Dakota,

Vermont, Virginia, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming and the District

of Columbia.

Open enrollment for Medicare Part D plans begins across the country on

November 15 and eligible individuals have until May 15, 2006 to join a plan

without paying a penalty. In addition, RxAmerica has been assigned full

benefit, dual eligible Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in select states.

Through a co-marketing effort with Longs Drug Stores, RxAmerica will be

sponsoring a mobile education tour in California and Hawaii. The tour will

make 212 stops in 140 cities between November 15 and December 15, 2005 to

educate Medicare eligible beneficiaries about the new Medicare Part D program.

Part of the campaign is to assist interested people in understanding the

features of the RxAmerica plans and help them with the application process.

Specific dates and locations for the tour are listed on http://www.meds4medicare.com.

RxAmerica is sponsoring three Medicare Part D Plans. The premiums will

range from $27 to $36, depending on the plan design. For more information

about each plan, interested individuals are encouraged to visit

http://www.meds4medicare.com or call 1-877-279-0370. Hearing impaired can receive

TTY/TDD access at 1-877-279-0371.

"RxAmerica has a wealth of experience in supporting managed Medicaid and

other government programs," said John Gardynik, president of RxAmerica.

"Since Medicare Part D is a new government program, RxAmerica has devoted

extensive resources to gain expertise and become a valued resource to our

clients and members.

"RxAmerica has a reputation for making sure that our incentives are

aligned with our clients' economic needs," Gardynik said. "In addition to our

own plans, we have contracted to provide pharmacy benefit management services

to a number of Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) programs under the

new Medicare drug benefit option."



In addition to offering the new Part D plan to Medicare recipients,

RxAmerica will also provide network, formulary and claims processing services

to companies and health plans wishing to comply with the new federal program.

In many cases, this means RxAmerica will support its current clients in

offering the prescription benefit as a stand alone or as part of a Medicare

Advantage plan.