The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by UnitedHealthcare of Alabama Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Baldwin County in southwestern Alabama.
UnitedHealthcare of Alabama, based in Birmingham, Ala., is now serving beneficiaries in Baldwin County in the Mobile area. Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice. About 28,000 beneficiaries live in the county.
The company began serving beneficiaries in 1995 in the Alabama counties of Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair and Shelby, including the city of Birmingham.
"We are pleased UnitedHealthcare of Alabama decided to expand this health plan to include Medicare beneficiaries in Baldwin County,” HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "Under the Medicare reform law signed by President Bush, Medicare will provide all seniors - no matter where they live - with better health insurance options, including prescription drug coverage and preventive care. The law is achieving the President's goals of strengthening and modernizing Medicare.”
UnitedHealthcare of Alabama is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, based in Minnetonka, Minn. The plan gives beneficiaries in Baldwin County another health care option to select. The other Medicare Advantage plan currently operating in the county is Health Springs of Alabama.
“We want to make sure all Medicare beneficiaries, whether in a Medicare Advantage plan or fee-for-service, are receiving the highest quality health care," said CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "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 Advantage HMOs and fee-for-service plans are available where private companies choose to offer them. Currently, about 4.6 million Medicare beneficiaries -- out of a total of about 40 million aged and disabled Americans – have enrolled in Medicare HMOs. Original fee-for-service Medicare, currently chosen by more than 35 million beneficiaries, is available to all beneficiaries.
Medicare has 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.