‘Continued Losses’ Prompt Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin To End Medicare+Choice Plan Jan. 1

About 10,000 Wisconsin seniors will lose their Medicare+Choice coverage when Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin ends its Medicare managed care plan Jan. 1, 2002, because of "continued losses," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Since 1998, MedicareBlue has lost $20 million, company spokesperson Bill Zaferos said. MedicareBlue beneficiaries can enroll in Medigap plans or Medicare+Choice plans through other insurance companies, such as UnitedHealthcare, which continues to offer a Medicare HMO plan in selected counties. The Journal Sentinel reports that Blue Cross' decision to drop its Medicare HMO plan is "a symptom" of low Medicare reimbursements that Wisconsin has "continually suffered." A Medicare HMO plan in Wisconsin receives $525 per senior per month, and in less urban areas, the rate is $475 per senior per month. The national average for Medicare HMO reimbursements is $515 per senior per month. Eileen Mallow, state deputy assistant insurance commissioner, said that the insurance department is asking health and insurance professionals to "petition the federal government to eliminate the Medicare reimbursement inequities" in the state. In addition, the insurance commissioner, following the suggestion of a task force, is assembling a "coalition" of Midwestern states to address the situation (Manning, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/13).