Clinics Plan to Offer Free Services During
Health Center Week
Two weeks ago, Kaiser Permanente alerted some 25,000 Medicare patients in San Diego they will have to pay a premium to help offset rising health care costs starting this December. The news that Medicare patients will have to pay a $30 premium had some people fuming, a Kaiser spokesman said.
Jim McBride, a spokesman for Kaiser in San Diego, said he spent the past several days weathering phone calls from disgruntled members. “The first wave of phone calls was from Medicare patients to confirm that they will have to pay the $30,” McBride said. “Others expressed dismay about the $30.”
Kaiser will ask its members to pay a Medicare premium in anticipation of rising health care costs, McBride said. Escalating pharmacy costs will consume the lion’s share, with rates climbing an estimated 16 percent or 17 percent next year, he said. Other reasons he cited were new equipment purchases and rising costs caused by inflation. So far, Kaiser has been the only health plan in San Diego to disclose proposed Medicare changes for next year. Secure Horizons, HealthNet and Blue Shield of California were unwilling to discuss their proposed Medicare changes just yet.
The plans are waiting for approval from the federal Health Care Financing Administration.
HCFA, which oversees the Medicare program, dictates that managed care programs must announce changes by Dec. 31 each year and inform members of any changes 60 days before this date. Secure Horizons, which has the highest Medicare penetration in San Diego, along with HealthNet and Blue Shield, are likely to announce benefit changes by mid-October.
Medicare HMO members should brace themselves now for having to dig deeper into their pockets later, said Marilyn Moon, a health economist at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. “I believe most health plans that serve Medicare patients will introduce premiums if they haven’t had them in the past,” Moon said.
That’s because most Medicare HMOs need to offset costs for offering highly desired benefits, such as prescription drugs and eyeglasses, for which they aren’t reimbursed by Medicare, Moon said. Medicare HMOs are struggling, because annual reimbursement rates by the federal Medicare program have dropped from 10 percent in 1995-96 to 2 percent in 1999 in order to adjust payments to private plans to traditional Medicare, she explained. Medicare HMOs are faced with higher costs, in part, because they offer additional benefits that the elderly want, but can’t get in traditional Medicare plans.
“Both sides are right,” Moon said. “I don’t think government is underpaying the plans, but the plans are in trouble and have to raise premiums because they offer extra benefits that beneficiaries have to pay for.”
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Celebrate Health: In celebration of the National Community Health Center Week, San Diego’s community clinics hope to attract visitors by offering free services from immunizations for children to blood pressure checks.
In addition, they will give away many healthy and useful freebies, said Christy Rosenberg, a spokeswoman from the Council of Community Clinics. At least 17 local community clinics will open their doors Aug. 26 to tout their services to the community, Rosenberg said. Each clinic will offer a number of free services that day: Imperial Beach Health Center on Palm Avenue will offer free immunizations for kids and adults; the East County Community Health Services center in El Cajon plans to offer anonymous HIV testing, glucose readings and blood pressure checks; and the Vista Community Clinic will provide diabetes screenings and educate women on health care. To make it a fun day, visitors can expect free food, beverages and giveaways, such as bandage dispensers and reflectors for children’s backpacks, Rosenberg said.
The idea is to make the public aware of the clinics’ services, which are offered on a sliding scale based on a patient’s income.
Rosenberg said the centers stress that nobody with a health care problem will be turned away. You can reach Marion Webb at mwebb@sdbj.com.
