[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page E1482]]



           INTRODUCTION OF 50/50 WAIVER FOR THE WELLNESS PLAN

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                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 1996

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues from 
Michigan in sponsoring legislation which will provide an opportunity 
for The Wellness Plan, a well-established HMO headquartered in Detroit, 
to enroll Medicare beneficiaries. This plan inadvertently has been 
frozen out of enrolling Medicare beneficiaries since January 1996 
through a health care prepayment plan contract because of a technical 
change in the Social Security and Technical Corrections Act of 1994.
  State-licensed as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit HMO since 1975, and 
federally qualified since 1979, The Wellness Plan has been recognized 
as a model quality Medicaid managed care plan by national leaders, 
including President Bush and two former secretaries of the Department 
of Health and Human Services. The Wellness Plan is a model of the type 
of HMO into which our Government would like Medicare beneficiaries 
enrolled because it has a proven record with both the Medicaid and 
Medicare Programs. I urge that the House leadership advance this bill 
in this Congress so that we do not delay any further the enrollment 
beneficiaries into this plan.

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