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Seniors'
Second HMO Premiums Protest
Less coverage, high premiums at issue
By
Erik Holm
The Newsday, April 22, 2003 |
Protestors
rally against high HMO premiums
Long Island seniors came on buses and in car pools yesterday to Mineola
to protest, for the second time in a month, the rising premiums and
declining coverage for seniors enrolled in Medicare HMO plans.
The several hundred seniors were met by Washington politicians touting
legislation that would address the problem, and some attended a hearing of
the Nassau County Legislature afterward to air the issue.
Medicare HMOs offer more comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare,
but because of rising premiums the number of Long Island seniors enrolled
in them has fallen by 41 percent since 1999, when the program was at its
peak.
When they leave the program, said Clara Woll, the former coordinator for
Nassau's assistance program for those in need of health insurance, seniors
return to traditional Medicare, which includes high deductibles and
co-payments, and are often left to gamble that they won't need expensive
medical care.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) said that medical insurance companies
were not to blame. The problem, he said, was in the federal funding
formulas that reimburse the companies for their patients.
Thanks to those formulas, HMOs receive up to $730 a month per Medicare
customer in New York City, depending on the borough. On Long Island,
however, the reimbursement is $571 in Suffolk County and $617 in Nassau -
not enough to cover the HMOs' costs.
It means that seniors on Long Island pay $140 a month for Medicare HMO
coverage, while seniors in New York City usually pay nothing for the same
services.
Suburban areas across the country face similar problems. Along with Nassau
and Suffolk, counties outside Baltimore, Dallas and Las Vegas have the
highest rates of HMOs leaving the counties and dropping seniors from their
coverage. Only two companies remain on Long Island, where once there were
11 offering coverage.
Israel and Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday told the seniors at
the rally that they have proposed legislation in Washington that would
address the problem nationwide by altering the funding formulas.
Afterward, Israel said that yesterday's rally would "inject some
momentum into our efforts in Washington to pass this legislation."
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