COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Medicare plans in 54 cities will be recognized for overall value in the design of their health plan benefits for seniors. The 2005 Senior Choice Gold Award recipients were selected from over 175 Medicare Advantage (formerly Medicare+Choice) plans based on independent cost-sharing comparisons conducted by HealthMetrix Research Inc. and MedicareNewsWatch.com. According to HealthMetrix Research Inc. president Alan Mittermaier:
“These forward-looking comparisons respond to the uncertainties that many seniors still have about the out-of-pocket costs associated with joining a Medicare plan. Each award recipient has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in the design of their 2005 Medicare plan benefits, copayments and premiums. By recognizing these organizations we offer our independent perspective for those seniors who wish to make informed decisions when selecting a Medicare plan.”
The award criteria were based on the 2005 cost-sharing comparisons conducted in over 60 cities. Estimated annual out-of-pocket costs include beneficiaries’ health status (healthy/episodic/chronic) and utilization of the most common health plan benefits (physician office visits, emergency care, hospital care, prevention care, prescriptions). HealthMetrix Research’s Medicare health plan comparisons and Medicare drug discount card information are available online at http://www.medicarenewswatch.com/ .
2005 Senior Choice Gold Award Recipients East Albany WellCare Atlanta Humana Baltimore Elder Health Boston (Essex county) Blue Cross & Blue Shield (Middlesex and Norfolk counties) Fallon Community Health Plan (Barnstable, Bristol, Plymouth counties) Tufts Health Plan Bradenton Universal Health Care Buffalo HealthNow Charlotte Partners Health Plans Fort Lauderdale CarePlus Health Plan Greensboro Partners Health Plans Miami WellCare New Haven Health Net New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union counties) Oxford Health Plans New York City (Nassau county and Staten Island) HIP (Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens) Elderplan (Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester counties) Empire Blue Cross Orlando WellCare Pittsburgh HealthAmerica Providence United HealthCare Raleigh Partners Health Plans Rochester Preferred Care Sarasota Universal Health Care Springfield (MA) Fallon Community Health Plan St. Petersburg WellCare Tampa WellCare (Pasco and Polk counties) Quality Health Plan West Palm Beach CarePlus Health Plan Worcester Fallon Community Health Plan Midwest Akron HomeTown Health Network Baton Rouge WellCare Birmingham HealthSpring Cincinnati United HealthCare Columbus Mount Carmel Health Plan Cleveland United HealthCare Dayton United HealthCare Kansas City Humana Knoxville Cariten Health Milwaukee United HealthCare Minneapolis/St. Paul UCare Mobile HealthSpring Nashville HealthSpring New Orleans Peoples Health Network St. Louis Group Health Plan West Albuquerque Presbyterian Health Plan Denver PacifiCare Houston Texas HealthSpring Las Vegas Health Plan of Nevada Los Angeles (Orange county) CIS (Ventura county) Kaiser Permanente (Riverside county) PacifiCare (Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties) UHP Healthcare Oakland PacifiCare Oklahoma City Generations Healthcare Phoenix PacifiCare Portland PacifiCare Sacramento PacifiCare San Antonio PacifiCare San Diego Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Chinese Community Health Plan San Jose Kaiser Permanente Seattle PacifiCare Tucson PacifiCare Tulsa PacifiCare CONTACT: Alan Mittermaier HealthMetrix Research Inc. 614-236-8345
HealthMetrix Research Inc.
CONTACT: Alan Mittermaier of HealthMetrix Research Inc.,+1-614-236-8345