MANAGED CARE PLAN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN THE BRONX, N.Y.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by AmeriChoice of New York Inc. to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in the Bronx, N.Y.
AmeriChoice is now serving beneficiaries in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice. About 154,000 beneficiaries live in the Bronx.
"We are pleased AmeriChoice decided to expand this health plan to include more Medicare beneficiaries in New York City,” 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.”
AmeriChoice, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, based in Minnetonka, Minn., began serving Medicare beneficiaries in 2000 in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City.
The AmeriChoice plan, AmeriChoice Personal Care Plus, gives beneficiaries in the Bronx another health care option to select. The nine Medicare Advantage plans currently operating in the Bronx are Aetna Health Inc., Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Health Net, HIP Health Plan, Managed Health (Healthfirst), Oxford Health Plan of New York, United HealthCare of New York, WellCare and GHI.
“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.