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Medicare News

For Immediate Release: Contact:
Friday, September 24, 2004 CMS Office of Public Affairs
202-690-6145

For questions about Medicare please call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov.

MANAGED CARE PLAN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES THROUGHOUT PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by PacifiCare of Arizona Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries throughout Pinal County in central Arizona.

 

PacifiCare of Arizona, based in Phoenix, Ariz., is now serving beneficiaries in all areas of Pinal County.  Previously, the company had served six ZIP codes in Apache Junction in the county.  Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice About 29,000 beneficiaries live in county.

          

"We are pleased PacifiCare of Arizona decided to expand this health plan to include Medicare beneficiaries throughout Pinal County,” 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.”

 

The company began serving Medicare beneficiaries in 1986 in Maricopa and Pima counties, including the cities of Phoenix and Tucson, and parts of Pinal County. 

 

PacifiCare of Arizona is a subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems, based in Cypress, Calif. The plan gives beneficiaries in Pinal County another health care choice to select.   The other Medicare Advantage plans currently operating in the county are Health Net of Arizona and Sterling Healthcare, a private fee-for-service plan.  

 

“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," said CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.   "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 10 new contracts with Medicare health plans and 33 service area expansions.  There are currently 32 applications pending for new contracts and 19 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.

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