Following the implementation of Medicare+Choice, many health care plans terminated their contracts & fully withdrew from the program or partially withdrew by reducing the geographic areas they served, & more have announced that they will withdraw for the 2001 contract year. This report (1) determines the geographic distribution & the distribution among plans of enrollees affected by the recent plan withdrawals, (2) identifies the factors associated with plans that terminated or reduced their participation in the program, & (3) examines the likely role of payment rates in affecting plans' decisions. Analyzes enrollment & plan participation data. Tables.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

HEHS-00-183 Medicare+Choice: Plan Withdrawals Indicate Difficulty of Providing Choice While Achieving Savings