Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Monday, September 24, 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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MEDICARE MANAGED CARE PLAN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE BENEFICIARIES IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLA.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today approved a request by America's Health Choice Medical Plans Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Palm Beach County, Fla.
America's Health Choice Medical Plans, based in Vero Beach, Fla., can begin on Oct. 1, 2001, to serve beneficiaries in Palm Beach County. About 245,000 Medicare beneficiaries live in the plan's newly approved service area.
The plan began serving beneficiaries in July 2000, throughout Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties, and in southern Brevard County.
"We are pleased that America's Health Choice Medical Plans has decided to offer this new option to Medicare beneficiaries in Palm Beach County," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "The reality is, Medicare should provide all seniors - no matter where they live - with better health insurance options, including prescription drug coverage and preventive care. The President's principles for strengthening and modernizing Medicare will move us closer to that goal."
"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."
The plan will give beneficiaries in Palm Beach County, currently served by nine Medicare managed care plans, another health care choice.
CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services which administers Medicare and Medicaid, is the new name for the Health Care Financing Administration.
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 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.
