(a) Monthly beneficiary premium. Except as provided in § 423.286(d)(3) (relating to late enrollment penalty) and subject to subpart P (relating to low-income assistance), the monthly beneficiary premium under a fallback prescription drug plan must be uniform for all fallback service areas in a PDP region. It must equal 25.5 percent of CMS's estimate of the average monthly per capita actuarial cost, including administrative expenses, of providing coverage in the PDP region based on similar expenses of prescription drug plans that are not fallback prescription drug plans.

(b) Special rule for collection of premiums in fallback prescription drug plans. In the case of a fallback prescription drug plan, the provisions of § 423.293 (b) concerning payments of the late enrollment penalty to the PDP sponsor do not apply and the monthly beneficiary premium is collected in the manner specified in § 422.262(f)(1) of this chapter, or paid directly to the fallback entity by the beneficiary if there are either no benefits, or insufficient benefits available to be collected in the manner specified under § 422.262(f)(1) of this chapter. The amount of any premiums collected by the fallback entity is deducted from management fees due from CMS.