Search Frequenty Asked Questions

Medicare News

Overview: Responding to this growing opportunity to provide beneficiaries with up-to-date information, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the agency that runs Medicare, has created a new website: www.Medicare.gov. President Clinton and Vice President Gore announced www.Medicare.gov at the seventh Family Reunion Conference in Tennessee today. Increasing numbers of Medicare beneficiaries use the Internet or have access to it through their families, friends, health care providers, and service organizations. Designed with the beneficiary in mind, www.Medicare.gov offers a variety of useful and easy-to-read information about Medicare including details of new choices available to them under the Balanced Budget Act.

ONLINE AT WWW.MEDICARE.GOV
HCFA's new website contains the following useful information for Medicare beneficiaries and anyone involved in helping them with their health care decisions:

• "What is Medicare?", In this section, visitors can get answers to their questions about Medicare, including eligibility requirements, how to enroll, and how to read a Medicare summary notice.
  
  
• "Managed Care", This section is about managed care and new options that will be available in 1999. Visitors can learn more about managed care in general and the Medicare+ Choice options available to Medicare beneficiaries. This includes an extensive question-and-answer section, glossary of terms, and information about how to enroll in and disenroll from a Medicare managed care plan. From this site visitors can also access the "Medicare Compare" database to see what plans and benefits are available where they live.
  
  
• "Who to Contact", This section provides state specific contact information, including phone numbers, on a variety of Medicare topics that includes: receiving Medicare, understanding your Medicare bill; Medicare rights, benefits, dealing with complaints and appeals, and managed care.
  
  
• "Publications", A variety of publications (in both English and Spanish) are available for visitors to view, print and/or download.
  
  
• "Wellness", Visitors can learn more about health issues that are of particular concern to them, such as peptic ulcers, pneumonia and the flu, and about new Medicare prevention benefits. This section also includes a calendar of events alerting the user to National Health Observances that are of importance to seniors. Here, seniors can learn about preventing disease or illness, preventive services covered by Medicare and how they can obtain additional information.
  
  
• "Fraud and Abuse", This section describes common Medicare fraud and teaches visitors how to report suspected fraud in the Medicare system. A Consumer Fraud Pamphlet is available for visitors to view and/or print-out.
  

THE "MEDICARE COMPARE" DATABASE
"Medicare Compare" is HCFA's new electronic database of information about accredited managed care plans that already serve nearly 6 million Medicare beneficiaries across the country. The database is designed to educate beneficiaries and others about their health care options, so they can make informed health care choices. The information is compiled by HCFA with cooperation from managed care plans, and will be updated on a quarterly basis.

"Medicare Compare" contains the following information: Toll-free telephone numbers and website addresses for health plans; Service areas listed by state, zip code, and county so beneficiaries can compare services in their own geographic areas; Benefit and service packages offered by each plan, including detailed information on premiums, copays/deductibles, and more; "Helpful hints" to help users navigate within the database; Guest book/E-mail link back to HCFA for users' comments, questions, and suggestions. Users can select the level of detail they want to know about the plans, searching either by state, county, or zip code. HCFA will update the database quarterly to provide users with the most timely and complete information.

In addition, users can: Display side-by-side comparisons of services offered by two health plans; Search for a specific type of service such as vision care or podiatry care.

SENIORS SURF THE NET
More and more Medicare beneficiaries and those who will soon be eligible for Medicare use the Internet. A Merrill Lynch-sponsored survey conducted in September 1997 shows that 15 percent of those 65 and older use the Internet. According to Packard Bell NEC Inc., customers over age 55 accounted for 14 percent of retail purchases of its personal computers in 1997. AARP reports that in 1997, 36 percent of Americans between ages 50 and 64 owned a personal computer.

WHO WILL USE THE WEB RESOURCES
While www.Medicare.gov and "Medicare Compare" are designed especially for Medicare beneficiaries and the people involved in their health care decisions; anyone with access to the Internet can use it. Material in the database may be customized and printed for local and individual needs.

Other primary users will include beneficiary advocacy groups, social and case workers, State Insurance and Assistance Program staff and volunteers, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging network and its staff, federal and state organizations, and health care providers.