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Medicare News

For Immediate Release: Contact:
Monday, August 30, 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 IN 4 COUNTIES IN TALLAHASSEE, FLA. AREA

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by Universal Health Care Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in four counties in the Tallahassee, Fla. area.

 

Universal Health Care will begin on Sept. 1 serving beneficiaries in Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon and Wakulla counties, including Tallahassee in Leon County.  Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice About 37,000 beneficiaries live in the four counties.

          

"We are pleased Universal Health Care decided to expand this health plan to include more Medicare beneficiaries in northern Florida,” 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.”

 

Universal Health Care, based in St. Petersburg, Fla., began serving Medicare beneficiaries in 2003 in the Florida counties of Hernando, Manatee and Sarasota, including the city of Sarasota.    The plan gives beneficiaries another health care option to select.  Capital Health Plan is the other Medicare Advantage plan currently operating in the four counties in the Tallahassee area.  

 

“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."

 

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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