PHS Pacificare Hlth Sys

CYPRESS, Calif., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced Saturday that the State of Illinois will partner with PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. (NYSE:PHS) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) to coordinate the new Illinois Cares Rx prescription-drug program that begins Jan. 1, 2006. The Illinois Cares Rx program provides supplemental pharmaceutical benefits to approximately 250,000 SeniorCare and Circuit Breaker beneficiaries who are not dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. These seniors will be automatically enrolled in either UnitedHealth's or PacifiCare's standalone Part D plans, and the state will ensure additional "wraparound coverage" including premium costs, coinsurance, coverage-gap expenses and deductibles, if any. The Governor stated that under the Illinois plan, "the options are simple." The State Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) invited companies sponsoring the Medicare drug benefit to submit proposals for seamlessly coordinating the needs of HFS and seniors. PacifiCare now expects that the total number of dually eligible federal and state special program auto-enrollees could be up to 685,000 beneficiaries. In addition, PacifiCare has entered into marketing alliances with Medigap insurers and senior health insurance brokers who have relationships with more than 1.5 million beneficiaries who will be eligible to enroll in the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program. About PacifiCare PacifiCare Health Systems is one of the nation's largest consumer health organizations with nearly 3.3 million health plan members and approximately 11.3 million specialty plan members nationwide. PacifiCare offers individuals, employers and Medicare beneficiaries a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance products. Today, PacifiCare is the nation's second-largest senior health insurance company with more than 20 years' experience delivering affordable, quality health care coverage to America's seniors. PacifiCare's specialty plan operations include behavioral health and dental and vision, as well as complete pharmacy benefit management with more than a decade of experience specializing in the senior prescription-drug market. More information on PacifiCare Health Systems is available at http://www.pacificare.com/. DATASOURCE: PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. CONTACT: Tyler Mason, +1-714-226-3530, , or Dan Yarbrough, +1-714-226-3540, , both of PHS Media Relations Web site: http://www.pacificare.com/

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