Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Friday, July 20, 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 PLAN OFFERED TO MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN PUERTO RICO
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today approved a request by MMM Healthcare Inc. to offer managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in 19 municipalities in Puerto Rico, including the cities of Arecibo, Manatí and Ponce. This is the first Medicare+Choice organization approved to operate in Puerto Rico.
MMM Healthcare, based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, can begin to serve Medicare beneficiaries on Sept. 1. The plan will operate as Medicare y Mucho Mas (Medicare and Much More).
The plan's service area includes about 118,000 beneficiaries from west of the San Juan metro area through a central corridor between the island's north and south coasts. The other 16 municipalities that MMM Healthcare will serve are Adjuntas, Barceloneta, Ciales, Coamo, Florida, Guayanilla, Jayuya, Juana Díaz, Morovis, Peñuelas, Santa Isabel, Utuado, Vega Alta, Vega Baja, Villalba and Yauco.
CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which administers Medicare and Medicaid, is the new name for the Health Care Financing Administration.
"We are pleased that MMM Healthcare has decided to offer its services in Puerto Rico," 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."
"We want to make sure all Medicare beneficiaries, whether in a Medicare+Choice plan or fee-for-service, are receiving the highest quality health care," CMS Administrator Tom Scully said. "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+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.
