Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Wednesday, September 01, 2004 | CMS Office of Public Affairs 202-690-6145 |
For questions about Medicare please call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov. |
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MEDICARE PLAN OFFERED TO BENEFICIARIES IN SIX STATES
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by Humana Insurance Co. to offer private fee-for-service health care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in six southern and western states.
Humana Insurance Co., based in Louisville, Ky., is now serving beneficiaries in the states of Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. About 2.9 million beneficiaries live in these states. Beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment in Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice.
“We are pleased Humana has decided to serve beneficiaries in the six states,” HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "Under the Medicare reform law signed by President Bush, Medicare will provide all seniors - no matter where they live - with better health insurance options, including prescription drug coverage and preventive care. The law is achieving the President's goals of strengthening and modernizing Medicare.”
Humana Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Humana Inc. based in Louisville, is offering the private fee-for-service plan under the Medicare Advantage program. The plan will give another health care option to beneficiaries in the six states. Each state has at least one Medicare Advantage plan currently operating.
A private fee-for-service plan is an insurance program that charges enrollees a premium and cost-sharing amounts and lets beneficiaries choose the providers they want to see, as long as these providers accept the private fee-for-service insurance program.
"We want to make sure all Medicare beneficiaries, whether in a Medicare Advantage plan or fee-for-service, are receiving the highest quality health care," CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, Ph.D., M.D., said. "We are doing more to guarantee that beneficiaries understand the Medicare coverage options available to them. We also are reminding beneficiaries of the need to work closely with the doctors and other health care providers that give them medical care."
Since Dec. 8, when President Bush signed the Medicare Modernization Act into law, CMS has approved nine new contracts with Medicare health plans and 25 service area expansions. There are currently 29 applications pending for new contracts and 24 service area expansions pending.
Medicare Advantage HMOs and fee-for-service plans are available where private companies choose to offer them. Currently, about 4.6 million Medicare beneficiaries -- out of a total of about 40 million aged and disabled Americans – have enrolled in Medicare
HMOs. Original fee-for-service Medicare, currently chosen by more than 35 million beneficiaries, is available to all beneficiaries.
Medicare has a far-reaching consumer information program that includes a national toll-free phone number -- 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or TTY/TDD, at 877-486-2048 -- an Internet site -- www.medicare.gov -- and a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations to provide seniors more information.
