ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- M-CARE, the nonprofit health plan owned by the University of Michigan, is adding a high-deductible consumer-directed health care plan to its portfolio of products. Effective May 1, this new plan will be available in fully insured HMO and PPO versions. Members will have access to M-CARE’s networks of high-quality health care providers as well as web-based tools to support their decision-making process.
M-CARE has more than 5,000 physicians and many of Michigan’s top hospitals in its commercial HMO network. Its PPO members have access to PPOM’s provider network, which is the largest independent health care network in the Midwest and includes more than 12,000 doctors and 30 hospitals in Southeastern Michigan.
The high-deductible health plan is offered in conjunction with a health savings account (HSA) and provides security against catastrophic medical costs. M-CARE’s new plan includes “first dollar” coverage for preventive services such as well-child visits, immunizations, physical examinations, and mammograms. With HSAs, employees, employers, or both deposit money into a tax-free account for employees to use for current health care needs, such as office visits and prescriptions, and to save for future medical expenses. Money invested in the account can be rolled over from year to year and move with the employee if he or she changes jobs.
“We believe this new plan is going be popular with both employer groups and members because of the flexibility it offers,” says Lynn Rust Henderson, M-CARE’s director of business development. “The plan allows members to exercise more choice in deciding the services they receive and to take control of their health care.” With the new plan, M-CARE offers a complete health care solution in Southeastern Michigan, giving employers the best options for their employees from a number of products.
M-CARE has signed a letter of intent to form an HSA alliance with Mellon Financial Corporation’s Human Resources & Investor Solutions (HR&IS) business. “HSAs represent a powerful new approach for addressing spiraling health care costs,” says Brad Engel, Mellon Health and Welfare Product Leader and National HSA Product Leader. “We are proud to join with M-CARE to deliver a full- service solution to members in Southeastern Michigan.”
M-CARE is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., and has more than 200,000 members and contracts with 1,500 employer groups. The organization has thousands of physicians and many of Michigan’s top hospitals in its provider networks. M-CARE, which offers a variety of managed care products, holds an Excellent Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its Commercial and Medicaid HMO health plans.
Mellon Financial Corporation is a leading provider in health savings accounts (HSAs), offering a complete range of services for health plans and employers and interest-bearing, FDIC-insured accounts for individuals. Mellon’s growing list of HSA alliance and administration agreements currently reach 130 million potential participants.
M-CARE
CONTACT: Tim George, Director of Marketing and Strategic Services,+1-734-747-8700, ext. 2266, tgeorge@mcare.med.umich.edu , or Sharon Morioka,Public Relations Coordinator, +1-734-747-8700, ext. 2467,smorioka@mcare.med.umich.edu , both of M-CARE
Web site: http://www.mcare.org/