Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Monday, November 29, 1999 | 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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HMO EXPANDS PLAN TO MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN FOUR OREGON COUNTIES
The Health Care Financing Administration today approved a request by Central Oregon Independent Health Services to expand coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in four Oregon counties.
Central Oregon Independent Health Services, based in Bend, Ore., can begin enrollment this month to serve Medicare beneficiaries starting January 1, 2000. Central Oregon operates a managed care plan, Clear Choice Health Plan, which will be offered for the first time to beneficiaries throughout Hood River, Sherman and Wasco counties and in northern Klamath County.
Clear Choice Health Plan will continue to serve beneficiaries in Crook, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Lake and Wheeler counties. About 18,500 beneficiaries live in the plan's newly approved service area.
HCFA, which administers the Medicare program, has approved 33 applications this year for new or expanded service areas and has an additional 11 applications from managed care organizations 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. Currently, about 6.5 million Medicare beneficiaries -- out of a total of nearly 40 million aged and disabled Americans -- have enrolled in Medicare HMOs. Original fee-for-service Medicare, currently chosen by more than 33 million beneficiaries, is available to all beneficiaries.
"We are pleased that Central Oregon Independent Health Services has decided to serve more Medicare beneficiaries in Oregon," 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-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) -- a new Internet site -- http://www.medicare.gov -- and a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations to provide seniors more information.
