ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH

Johnson Announces Hearing on Medicare+Choice: Lessons for Reform

Congresswoman Nancy L. Johnson (R-CT), Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Medicare+Choice: Lessons for Reform. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 1, 2001, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include representatives from Medicare+Choice plans and program experts. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

BACKGROUND:

The Medicare+Choice program as we know it today was created through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33). The new program, Medicare's Part C, was intended to significantly expand the range of health care options available to Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare+Choice gives beneficiaries the option of choosing to enroll in private, integrated health plans that often offer coordinated benefits and additional benefits, such as prescription drugs. Today, 15 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare+Choice.

Although Medicare+Choice has proven popular with many beneficiaries, the program has recently encountered problems, resulting in significant plan withdrawals, premium increases and benefit cuts over the past three years. Policy analysts have attributed these developments to payment and regulatory problems. In the past two years, Congress has acted to increase plan payment rates and to decrease the regional variations in rates and benefits afforded to participants, with the goal of stabilizing the program and expanding beneficiary access to a wider array of choices. However, fundamental payment and regulatory problems remain.

In announcing the hearing, Chairwoman Johnson stated: "Medicare+Choice has a great deal to offer Medicare beneficiaries, ranging from important innovations in prevention and disease management to reduced cost-sharing responsibilities and increased benefits offered through some of the plans. Our challenge is to learn from the experience of implementing Medicare+Choice so that we can strengthen the program as part of our efforts to improve and modernize Medicare this year."

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The hearing's first panel will include representatives of Medicare+Choice plans, who will address their experiences and discuss the innovations in care made possible through an integrated and coordinated health care delivery model. The second panel will include experts to discuss the complicated Medicare+Choice payment system, the regulatory environment created by the Health Care Financing Administration and its impact on program implementation. Panelists will also suggest solutions to the program's problems that will help make it more market-oriented.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record of the hearing should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and hearing date noted on a label, by the close of business, Tuesday, May 15, 2001, to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. If those filing written statements wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing, they may deliver 200 additional copies for this purpose to the Subcommittee on Health office, room 1136 Longworth House Office Building, by close of business the day before the hearing.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.

4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.

The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at "http://waysandmeans.house.gov".

The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.