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CMS will only reassign individuals who meet the above criteria between October and the end of the year.

“Losing” PDPs

A PDP may lose LIS beneficiaries to reassignment in the following circumstances:

• The LIS beneficiary has a new premium liability in the following year for those eligible for 100 percent premium subsidy under LIS (i.e., premium goes above LIS benchmark), or • The PDP is terminating the following year.

As part of determining whether a terminating PDP should be included in reassignment, CMS determines whether it is truly non-renewing (i.e., all individuals will be disenrolled with no automated enrollment into another PDP), or whether individuals are actually being cross-walked to a different PDP. If the latter, CMS will perform the following additional steps:

• Determine if the PDP had a premium below the LIS regional benchmark and a basic benefit in the current year. o If it does not, then the PDP will be carved out of reassignment (i.e., not considered “terminating” for purposes of reassignment), and all individuals will be cross-walked. o If it does, CMS will determine whether the PDP into which individuals are cross-walked qualify as a “Gaining” PDP per § 40.1.9. • If so, the individuals will not be included in reassignment, and all individuals will be cross-walked, since the plan into which they are being cross-walked will have no premium for those with 100 percent premium liability. • If not, individuals who meet the criteria for reassignment due to a premium increase will be reassigned (to ensure they have no new premium liability the following year); the remaining individuals will be cross-walked.

CMS account managers generally contact losing plans in September to confirm the plan is aware it will lose enrollees due to reassignment. Plans that are uncertain about whether they will lose to reassignment should contact their CMS account manager to confirm.

Volunteering for “De Minimis” Per Section 1860D-14(a)(5) of the Social Security Act (the Act), a PDP or MA-PD plan may volunteer to waive the portion of the monthly adjusted basic beneficiary premium that is up to a de minimis amount above the LIS benchmark for an LIS eligible individual.

CMS will not reassign LIS individuals from Part D plans that volunteer to waive the de minimis amount. Though any Part D plan that qualifies may volunteer to waive the de minimis premium, generally, Part D plans likely to volunteer are those continuing PDPs that would otherwise lose enrollees to reassignment.

A Part D sponsor will volunteer to waive de minimis premium amount on a plan-by-plan basis. The Part D sponsor may opt to volunteer for one plan benefit package that qualifies and not another. For each plan benefit package that a sponsor volunteers, the sponsor agrees to waive the