[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   MEDICARE-PLUS CHOICE PLANS DROPPED IN MANY PARTS OF RURAL AMERICA

  (Mr. SHERWOOD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to direct the attention of 
the House to an alarming trend, denying benefit options to Medicare 
beneficiaries on the basis of where they live.
  The Medicare-plus choice program passed by Congress was intended to 
offer real health care options under Medicare. However, Americans in 
rural and smaller urban areas are being dropped from plans at an 
alarming rate. Many beneficiaries in my district have been notified 
they no longer have the option of enrolling in the Medicare HMO. It is 
an outrage that many of the disabled Americans and seniors can no 
longer enroll in a Medicare HMO because of discriminatory payment 
rates.
  How can HCFA justify a monthly payment rate in my area of $400, and 
yet in larger cities of $700 to $800? This discrepancy is not 
justifiable, it offends my basic sense of fairness, and we must work, 
Congress and the administration must work together to reverse this 
trend, and restore the availability of the Medicare-plus choice payment 
program to all beneficiaries.

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