These insurers are avoiding a wholesale withdrawal from managed Medicare, but they are undertaking a brutal shifting of costs, scaling back or eliminating a lot of the insurance that helps some of their sickest members.
All of that choice is instantly forfeited when a senior enrolls in one of the managed Medicare plans, where they may see only physicians in a controlled network and nearly all tests must be preauthorized, requiring costly use of staff and physician time.
They said it validated President Clinton's economic policies and the way he had managed Medicare and Social Security.
This follows lost contracts in New Jersey state Blue Cross plan and Ohio's managed Medicare business.
Participants were censored at death or enrollment into managed Medicare.
Prior to 2006, managed Medicare enrollees had pharmacy covered through their health plan, one of the benefits of enrollment in certain managed Medicare plans.
Pharmacy claims for the managed Medicare population also present certain limitations.
Participants were censored at the time of two competing risks – death or enrollment into managed Medicare – whichever came first.
Further, this analysis did not include patients on Medicaid and it contained < 8% of patients with managed Medicare.
