Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Friday, March 05, 1999 | CMS Office of Public Affairs 202-690-6145 |
For questions about Medicare please call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov. |
|
HMO PLAN OFFERED TO MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN EIGHT LOUISIANA PARISHES
The Health Care Financing Administration today approved HMO Louisiana Inc. to offer managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in eight parishes in southeastern Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
HMO Louisiana Inc., based in Baton Rouge, will now be able to serve Medicare beneficiaries in the parishes of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Livingston, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. Charles and St. Tammany beginning April 1, 1999. About 230,000 eligible Medicare beneficiaries live in the plan's service area.
Currently, about 6.5 million Medicare beneficiaries -- out of a total of nearly 40 million aged and disabled Americans -- have enrolled in Medicare HMOs. HCFA, which oversees the Medicare program, has an additional 44 applications from managed care plans seeking to serve beneficiaries in new or expanded service areas.
Managed care and other new health care options, known as Medicare+Choice, are available where private companies choose to offer them. Original fee-for-service Medicare, currently chosen by more than 33 million beneficiaries, is available to all beneficiaries.
"We are pleased HMO Louisiana has decided to serve Medicare beneficiaries," HCFA Administrator Nancy-Ann DeParle said. "While most beneficiaries are still receiving care through original fee-for-service Medicare, other managed care options are increasingly available and we welcome every opportunity to give seniors and the disabled more health plan choices."
Congress created Medicare+Choice in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to expand the types of health care options available to Medicare beneficiaries. As part of Medicare+Choice, Medicare now offers new preventive benefits and patient protections, as well as a far-reaching information program that includes a national toll-free phone number, 1-800-318-2596, a new Internet site, www.medicare.gov, and a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations to provide seniors more information.
