Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Monday, February 05, 2001 | 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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MANAGED CARE PLANS OFFERED TO MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN HOUSTON, FORT WORTH AND 6 EAST TEXAS COUNTIES
The Health Care Financing Administration today approved requests by two managed care plans to offer coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Houston and other areas in eastern and central Texas.
Both plans will cover Harris County including Houston. In addition, AmCare Health Plans of Texas Inc. will enroll beneficiaries in Tarrant County including Fort Worth. SelectCare of Texas L.L.C. will seek beneficiaries in six other eastern Texas counties, including the city of Beaumont. The other counties are Fort Bend, Hardin, Jefferson, Orange, and parts of Brazoria and Galveston counties. (A list of the ZIP codes for SelectCare's service area in Brazoria and Galveston counties is attached.)
Both plans are based in Houston and can begin to serve Medicare beneficiaries, starting March 1, 2001. About 421,600 Medicare beneficiaries live in SelectCare's newly approved service area and about 425,000 Medicare beneficiaries are in Harris and Tarrant counties.
The new plans give beneficiaries another health care choice regardless of whether there had been pullouts. In Harris County, Pacificare, the county's other Medicare+Choice plan, is not taking any new Medicare enrollees in 2001, while Tarrant County has three other Medicare+Choice plans, Texas Health Choice, Pacificare and the Sterling PFFS plan, that have remained in the program for 2001.
SelectCare's approval allows most beneficiaries in the six counties outside Harris County a choice between at least two Medicare managed care options.
HCFA, which administers the Medicare program, has now approved 66 applications for new or expanded service areas since the Medicare+Choice program began. In addition, seven applications from managed care organizations seeking to serve beneficiaries in new or expanded service areas are currently under consideration.
Medicare+Choice and private fee-for-service plans are available where private companies choose to offer them. Currently, about 5.6 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 34 million beneficiaries, is available to all beneficiaries.
Congress created Medicare+Choice in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to expand the types of health care options available to Medicare beneficiaries, who can now receive new preventive benefits and patient protections. There also is a far-reaching consumer information program that includes a national toll-free phone number -- 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) -- an Internet site -- www.medicare.gov -- and a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations to provide seniors more information.
SelectCare of Texas' service area in Brazoria and Galveston counties includes the following ZIP codes:
Brazoria -- 77581, 77584, 77588.
Galveston -- 77546, 77549, 77565, 77573, 77574.
