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Medicare News

For Immediate Release: Contact:
Monday, October 18, 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 OFFERED TO BENEFICIARIES IN BATON ROUGE AND THREE LOUISIANA PARISHES

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by WellCare of Louisiana Inc. to offer managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in three Louisiana parishes including the city of Baton Rouge. 

WellCare of Louisiana is now serving beneficiaries in Ascension, East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes in the Baton Rouge metro area. Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment in Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice. About 68,000 beneficiaries live in the three parishes.

"We are pleased WellCare decided to offer this health plan to beneficiaries in three southern Louisiana parishes,” 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.”

WellCare of Louisiana is a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans Inc., based in Tampa, Fla. The company will give another health care option to beneficiaries living in the three parishes.  Beneficiaries in those parishes currently are served by Ochsner Health Plan and Sterling Life Insurance Co. Inc.

"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 11 new contracts with Medicare health plans and 33 service area expansions.   There are currently 37 applications pending for new contracts and 21 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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