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Special coverage: Medicare

Like a mall for Medicare

Tropicana Field is filled to its lopsided brim with Medicare managed-care vendors ready to enroll.

By KRIS HUNDLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published November 16, 2007

Fitness guru Richard Simmons kisses Ethel Mathias, 79, of Riverview at the Senior Friendly Extravaganza at Tropicana Field.
	[ JAMES BORCHUCK, Times]

ST. PETERSBURG - WellCare Health Plans was handing out back-scratchers. CarePlus had coffee and doughnuts. CitrusCare was pouring orange juice. And Humana pulled out all the stops with exercise guru Richard Simmons, who tossed out kisses and off-color comments.

Welcome to the Medicare gold rush, which began in earnest Thursday during the Senior Friendly Extravaganza at Tropicana Field. Although the free event featured dozens of vendors with senior-centered services vein surgery, anyone? and Frankie Avalon crooning Venus, at front and center were major Medicare managed-care companies.

Their timing was flawless: Thursday marked the start of open enrollment for 2008 Medicare plans. And every Medicare beneficiary who walked into the expo represented potential revenues of more than $800 per month in government reimbursements.

The competition is fierce: There are more than 150 drug and health plans to choose from in the Tampa Bay area. Seniors have until Dec. 31 to pick a standalone prescription drug plan. And they have until March 31 to switch plans if they enroll in a Medicare Advantage program.

People who are satisfied with their existing plans do not have to do anything to maintain their coverage. And that seemed to be the sentiment of the day among expo visitors.

"Why jump around if you're happy?" asked Roselyn Oursler, 65, of Lutz, who belongs to a Humana plan.

Although companies are prohibited from making cold calls, seniors were freely trading contact information with sales reps Thursday in exchange for free T-shirts or pill boxes. At the bottom of one company's "registration form" was fair warning: "A salesperson may call."

The sales season this year is particularly interesting because one of the biggest local players is under federal and state investigation. WellCare of Tampa was raided on Oct. 24 by more than 200 investigators who seized documents and electronic data.

The nature of the investigation is not known, and WellCare said the incident is not interfering with customer service or claims payments to its more than 1-million Medicare members.

Conversations with several expo visitors suggested that seniors are far less concerned about the cloud over WellCare than might be imagined. Florence Davis, 66, of Palm Harbor has been on WellCare for two years and intends to stay.

"So many businesses have issues with certain things, but it doesn't mean the whole company is bad," she said. "I feel pretty confident they'll be okay."

While WellCare may be able to retain happy customers, it may not be easy to attract new ones. Gary Niles, 67, of Brooksville is considering alternatives to his Humana plan. But WellCare is not one of them.

"When the government starts checking people out, stay away from it," he said.

Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2996.

[Last modified November 16, 2007, 06:44:13]