As managed care organizations form a mass exodus from the Medicare market place, the few plans that choose to continue offering Medicare + Choice options are becoming stingier
about the benefits they offer. If current trends continue, Medicare HMO beneficiaries will wind up paying more for fewer health benefits, according to study recently released at
the annual meeting of the Association for Health Services Research (AHSR).
The study found that a third fewer health plans are offering "zero premium" products as their basic Medicare + Choice plan. This year, 42% of managed care organizations offered
such a product, down from 62% in 1999. Medicare HMO members are also being hit with higher co-payments for hospital and physician services. And while most benefit packages cover
prescription drugs, this benefit has been scaled down to 68% from 73% in the share of basic contracts offering drug coverage.
Health plans had until July 3 to notify the Health Care Financing Administration of their intentions to drop out or limit their participation in the Medicare + Choice program.
(AHSR, 202/292-6700, http://www.ahsr.org)