MANAGED CARE PLAN EXPANDS TO INCLUDE MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES IN HOWARD COUNTY IN BALTIMORE AREA
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today approved a request by Aetna to expand managed care coverage to Medicare beneficiaries in Howard County in suburban Baltimore, Md.
Aetna, based in Hartford, Conn., will begin on Jan. 1 serving beneficiaries in Howard County outside of Baltimore, including the city of Columbia. Medicare beneficiaries can sign up for the plan during the current open enrollment for Medicare Advantage, formerly known as Medicare+Choice. About 19,000 beneficiaries live in the county.
Aetna began serving beneficiaries in 2001 in Maryland as a preferred provider organization (PPO) demonstration project. The company currently serves beneficiaries in the Baltimore area including Baltimore City and County, and the counties of Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll and Harford.
"We are pleased Aetna decided to serve more beneficiaries in the Baltimore area,” 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.”
The plan gives another health care choice to beneficiaries in Howard County. The other Medicare Advantage plans currently operating in the county are ElderHealth, Kaiser Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic and United Healthcare Insurance Co.
“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, when President Bush signed the Medicare Modernization Act into law, CMS has approved 15 new contracts with Medicare health plans and 42 service area expansions. There are currently 40 applications pending for new contracts and 17 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.