Hernando organizes plea for help with HMOs

Worried about Medicare HMOs fleeing? Petitions headed for state and federal agencies will be on the county Web site and at public libraries.

By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 27, 2000

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando County residents will get a chance to urge federal and state officials to fix the problem with Medicare HMOs, which are leaving the county at the end of the year with their prescription drug coverage.

The Hernando County Commission will circulate petitions to urge Gov. Jeb Bush, federal and state senators and representatives and the state insurance commissioner to form a state emergency action work group on the issue.

The County Commission, which approved the petitions Wednesday, will put the forms on its Web site at http://www.co.hernando.fl.us and at public libraries. Commissioner Pat Novy said she already has distributed thousands of similar petitions to area hospitals and doctors' offices. Those and the commission's petitions will be collected at the County Commission office and sent to the appropriate federal or state officials.

The commission also unanimously approved a resolution and a letter calling for a state action group to find a quick solution for those almost 10,000 Hernando County residents and thousands of others throughout the state that will be abandoned by HMO Medicare coverage at the end of the year.

"These residents will be forced to make decisions between paying for needed health care/prescriptions and basic necessities, such as obtaining food of high nutritional value," the letter states.

Humana and AvMed Health Plan announced in June they were leaving Hernando County at the end of the year because the federal government's reimbursement rates here are too low, causing them to lose money.

Their departure is devastating to thousands of patients who rely on the HMO Medicare coverage for prescription drugs and other benefits not covered by traditional Medicare.

County commissioners, along with panicked residents at two recent public hearings, say they hope state and federal officials will work to raise reimbursement rates in counties such as Hernando and see to it that Medicare HMO plans are offered equitably across the state. For instance, premiums and co-payments are much higher in Hernando County than other parts of the state. The recent application of Well Care Health Plan to put a Medicare HMO in the county has not relieved some residents who fear the larger problems with the Medicare system will remain.

The commission's resolution asks the state to enforce a law that allows it to demand health insurance companies offer programs to all Florida residents. Currently, federal law lets the governor request that HMOs extend their coverage areas beyond individual counties, but no governor has used it.

Bush spokeswoman Elizabeth Hirst said the governor has asked his budget and policy staff to research a number of issues, including health care, during the summer. But she added that she did not know if the research included the governor's authority related to HMOs. She said she could also not comment on the Hernando County Commission's request for a state work group until it arrives in Tallahassee.

"We're going to have to wait to see the resolution and what specifically the citizens are asking for," Hirst said. "The governor would be open to any suggestion and any recommendation."

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