CIGNA HealthCare has agreed to work with a large prescription drug discount card seller to set up a national Medicare drug plan.[@@]

CIGNA HealthCare, Bloomfield, Conn., says its proposed partner, NationsHealth Inc., Sunrise, Fla., has attracted 2.6 million members to a drug discount card program accepted at 50,000 pharmacies around the United States.

NationsHealth also provides diabetes supplies for Medicare beneficiaries at the Kmart pharmacies, according to CIGNA HealthCare.

CIGNA HealthCare, a unit of CIGNA Corp., Philadelphia, says the deal is subject to federal government approval of CIGNA HealthCare’s application to join the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program.

CIGNA HealthCare also says it expects to buy 303,030 shares of NationsHealth common stock and warrants to buy another 2.9 million shares of the company’s common stock.