Medicare HMO Similar to SCAN
Q: I am currently a senior on medicare and enrolled in an HMO (SCAN) in Orange County, CA. I plan to relocate to Texas within 3-4 months. I am looking for a health plan similar to the one I currently have. Do you have any suggestion or contacts I can look into? Please send any info you might have.
A: It is not clear what you mean by “similar.” Let’s assume that you are looking for a similar plan type as SCAN, which is a Medicare Advantage HMO plan. A Medicare Advantage HMO plan, like SCAN, basically takes the responsibility of managing your health care away from the Medicare system and places it with an approved insurance company that offers this type of product. Under you current SCAN coverage, you have chosen a primary care physician that is responsible for your health care. Do you yet have a new physician in Texas? If so, his medical group is probably a good place to start in considering other Medicare Advantage plans. They can tell you which insurance companies they work with under a Medicare HMO contract, and they you can contact these companies directly to obtain more information.
If you do not yet have a doctor in Texas, do you know in which area you will be living? If so, find out which hospitals or medical groups have facilities nearest to your location, and then contact them to find out which Medicare HMO plans they work with. I know this seems like doing things backwards, but since HMO plans work with select physicians and hospitals, you do not want to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan whose closest doctor is 80 miles from your residence. Texas is a big state!!!! There are “similar” plans to SCAN available in Texas. Medicare.gov has a useful too on their website that will help you find plan options based on your situation and geographical location. Here is a direct link to the page of their site http://www.medicare.gov/Choices/Advantage.asp.
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