Press Releases

MANAGED CARE PLAN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN CLARK COUNTY, WASH.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved a request by Providence Health Plan to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Clark County in southwestern Washington state.

Providence Health Plan, based in Beaverton, Ore., will begin serving beneficiaries on June 1 in Clark County, including the city of Vancouver, Wash. Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans.   About 36,000 beneficiaries live in the county.

"We are pleased Providence Health Plan decided to expand this health plan to include Medicare beneficiaries in Clark County ,” HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt 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.”

Providence Health Plan is a not-for-profit plan sponsored by Providence Health System. The plan, which currently operates in 10 Oregon  counties, will give another health care choice to beneficiaries living in Clark County , Wash. The four Medicare Advantage plans currently operating in the county are Health Net Options Plus, Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage, Sterling Life Insurance Co. and Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield Oregon .     

“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."

Since Dec. 8, 2003, when President Bush signed the Medicare Modernization Act into law, CMS has approved 71 new contracts with Medicare health plans and 97 service area expansions.  There are currently 218 applications pending for new contracts and 85 service area expansions pending.

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.