Medicare News
| For Immediate Release: | Contact: |
| Wednesday, November 14, 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 NINE COUNTIES IN TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today approved a request by John Deere Health Plan Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in nine counties in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia.
John Deere Health Plan, based in Moline, Ill., can begin on Dec. 1, to serve beneficiaries in six Tennessee counties, near the cities of Knoxville, Johnson City and Kingsport. The counties are Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Hancock, Scott and Unicoi. The three Virginia counties are Dickenson, Russell and Smyth near the city of Bristol. About 49,000 Medicare beneficiaries live in the plan's newly approved service area.
The plan began serving beneficiaries in June 1997 in 16 Tennessee and four Virginia counties including the cities of Bristol, Knoxville, Johnson City and Kingsport.
"We are pleased that John Deere Health Plan has decided to expand this health plan to include more Medicare beneficiaries in Tennessee and Virginia," 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."
John Deere Health Plan will give another health care choice to beneficiaries in Campbell and Claiborne counties who currently have two Medicare+Choice plans, Cariten Health Plan and Sterling Life Insurance Co. Hancock County has only the Sterling Life Insurance plan, while beneficiaries in the other six counties currently have no Medicare+Choice plans.
CMS, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services which administers Medicare and Medicaid, is the former 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.
