Health Affairs, Vol 18, Issue 6, 150-157
Copyright © 1999 by Project HOPE
Medicare HMO withdrawals: what happens to beneficiaries?
M A Laschober,
P Neuman,
M S Kitchman,
L Meyer,
and
K M Langwell
More than 400,000 Medicare beneficiaries had to seek other insurance arrangements when their health maintenance organization (HMO) withdrew from Medicare at the end of 1998. According to a new survey of 1,830 involuntarily disenrolled Medicare beneficiaries, two-thirds subsequently enrolled in another Medicare HMO; one-third experienced a decline in benefits, and 39 percent reported higher monthly premiums. One in seven lost prescription drug coverage; about one in five had to switch to a new primary care doctor or specialist. Those with traditional Medicare by itself or with Medigap, the disabled under age sixty-five, the oldest old, and the near-poor experienced the greatest hardship after their HMO withdrew.