Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Thursday, May 10, 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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HMO PLAN EXPANDS TO MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN THREE COUNTIES IN BIRMINGHAM, ALA., AREA
The Health Care Financing Administration today approved a request by VIVA Health Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in three counties in the Birmingham, Ala., area.
VIVA Health, based in Birmingham, can begin to serve Medicare beneficiaries in Blount, St. Clair and Shelby counties on June 1. About 26,000 Medicare beneficiaries live in the plan's newly approved service area. The new plan will give beneficiaries in the three counties, which are currently served by United Health Care of Alabama, another health care choice. Shelby County is also served by Health Partners.
VIVA Health currently serves Medicare beneficiaries throughout Jefferson County, Ala., which includes most of Birmingham. With its service area expansion into Shelby County, VIVA Health will now cover the entire city of Birmingham.
"We are pleased that VIVA Health decided to expand its services into three Alabama counties," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "This expansion to the Medicare+Choice program gives Medicare beneficiaries, including senior citizens and people with disabilities, another health care option in addition to traditional fee-for-service Medicare."
Medicare+Choice HMOs and 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 nearly 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 in addition 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), or TTY/TDD, at 1-877-486-2048 -- an Internet site -- www.medicare.gov -- and a coalition of more than 200 national and local organizations to provide seniors more information.
