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Reports on the increase in Medicare charges in the U.S. Possibility for elderly people to join Medicare health maintenance organizations operated by private industry; Actions taken by the government to address the problem.

This article focuses on the windfall experienced by the pharmaceutical industry over the transfer of millions of low-income people into the new Medicare Part D drug program. Drugs had been less expensive in Medicaid programs since they were purchased by states at the lowest available prices.The benefits of this surprisingly lucrative niche market, drugs for poor people, may show up in the quarterly financial results of drug makers. Drug prices have risen since the advent of Medicare Part D.

The article focuses on the new Medicare prescription drug program. According to the author, the program's rollout has had mixed reviews. It is suggested that the Medicare program is shaping up as a great opportunity for big insurance companies. The article includes comments on the issue from Humana Inc. chief executive Michael B. McCallister.

The article discusses the new prescription drug plan, known as Medicare Part D, that is being offered by the government to millions of elderly and disabled people beginning January 1, 2006. The plan is described as extremely confusing, partly because it is federally subsidized but run by the commercial insurance industry, who are competing for customers and continually adjusting their offerings. The article describes steps that can be taken to decide which plan is best. Reference is made to the fact that the December 31st deadline applies to programs that begin in January, but that a May 15th deadline is also offered without penalty.

Reports that pop culture figures of a certain age or from a certain era in television are playing lead roles in a vast new marketing and advertising blitz. Likelihood that hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent trying to get millions of older Americans to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefits that will effect January 1, 2006; Importance of the fact that the federally subsidized Medicare drug plans will be sold and administered by private industry; Efforts by insurers and pharmacy chains to grab shares of the new business; Description of tactics used to reach older people, such as daytime television advertising and direct mail; Concerns about communicating the complexities of the drug insurance plans.

Reports that UnitedHealth Group, the nation's second-largest health insurer, has agreed to buy PacifiCare Health Systems. Implications of the merger, which would push UnitedHealth Group into the rapidly growing Medicare market; Views of UnitedHealth's chief executive, Dr. William McGuire; Overview of the deal; Backgrounds on the two companies, Views of Wall Street analysts; Outlook for UnitedHealth gaining an array of services for the rapidly growing Medicare population; Role of McGuire in expanding his company through acquisitions.

Focuses on a recent federal court ruling that requires employers who offer health insurance to early retirees to give comparable coverage to retirees who are age 65 or older and eligible for Medicare. Report that federal courts have agreed with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and their view that companies who offer superior benefits to younger retirees, and less benefits to those eligible for Medicare, are practicing age discrimination; Discussion of the influence of rising health care costs on retirees.

PEOPLE over 65 should buy a Medigap policy, consumer advocates say, but picking a Medigap plan can be difficult, and at least one important health care bill heading for a vote in the Senate could make it even harder. The plans, which are sold by private insurers, are supposed to help fill the considerable gaps that deductibles and co-payments leave, the difference between what Medicare enrollees receive from the government and what they owe doctors and hospitals. Medigap offerings come in a dozen different varieties, labeled Plans A to L. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Employers and patients in corporate health plans are not the only ones affected by the soaring prices of specialty drugs. Enrollees in Medicare drug plans are also feeling the pressure. Many leading pharmacy benefit managers and drug insurers that oversee employer plans also offer coverage through the Medicare Part D drug insurance program, and so are profiting from federal spending on specialty drugs and from Medicare patients' own high out-of-pocket co-payments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports that Americans are wary of the health savings account for personal health coverage because they do not want to risk spending more on their medical bills. Introduction of the health savings account under a provision of the 2003 Medicare law; Remark of Linda A. Bertgthold, a health strategy consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide on the number of employees who will choose a high-deductible health plan; Increase in the spending by private individuals and health plans.

Reports that the cost of providing health care to employees has risen 11.2 percent this year alone. How it is the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums; Costs which have caused many companies to drop health insurance as an employee benefit and raised prices for those who are still covered; Increase which was five times the national increase in wages; Price being paid by small businesses; Recent changes in Medicare coverage which will also cost senior citizens more.

Reports that Pfizer, the nation's largest drug maker, ended its widely used discount card for the elderly, leaving several hundred thousand low-income Medicare beneficiaries without access to reduced prices for medicines. The company's warning to cardholders that it would discontinue the discount program; Request by consumer advocates that Pfizer keep the discount card in place until 2006; Outlook for more confusion on the Medicare drug programs; Background on the federal discount card program set up under Congress' Medicare overhaul legislation.

Describes the implementation of Medicare discount drug cards in an effort to provide affordable prescription drugs to elderly Americans. Probable impact on politics and health policy; Controversy over actual savings delivered by the cards; Confusion resulting from a variety of card choices; Possible impacts on elderly Medicare recipients.

Reports on the plans by Medicare to open a Web site operated by DestinationRx to help senior citizens in the United States compare prices of their prescription drugs. Promotion of the site's advantages compared with competitors; Skeptics attracted by the Medicare program.

Reports on attempts by H.M.O. companies to sign up elderly members. Surge in managed care prompted by the Bush administration's plan to pump $46 billion into these programs over the next 10 years; Question as to whether Medicare managed care demonstrates savings over traditional Medicare; Concerns of the elderly, including allotting dollars from tight budgets and whether to believe that the health plans will not abandon them as they did a few years ago.

Reports that health policy experts are predicting that the most politically fragile feature of the Medicare legislation passed by the U.S. Congress -- its attempt to make the federal Medicare program compete with private managed-care plans -- is also the least likely to come to fruition on the seven-year schedule set in the bill. Claims by experts that similar plans have failed to find support among patients, doctors and hospitals; Claim that many people enrolled in Medicare fear they will end up with less generous benefits in a privately run program; Background on previous attempts at experimenting with competition among Medicare H.M.O.'s; Comments by health policy expert Robert D. Reischauer; Comments by other experts and members of the health care industry.

Reports on the AARP and the influence of the baby boomers on the retirement group. Comments from William D. Novelli, the CEO who is pleased with the Senate's passage of prescription drug legislation; Shift in philosophy of the retiree group as it attracts younger clients; Displeasure from some of the 35 million members; Input into the legislation design by the board of the AARP; Anger over how the group came to the conclusion to endorse the bill without consulting membership; Charge that the AARP approved the plan on order to advance its insurance business; History of the group.

Reports on critics' complaints regarding the American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP) financial stakes in the Medicare bill being considered by the U.S. Congress in November 2003. National Community Pharmacists Association's argument that the AARP has an inherent conflict of interest based on income from health insurance products sold to AARP members; Retail pharmacies' objections to many provisions of the bill.

Reports on the rising costs of health care and the efforts by companies to shift more of the burden on employees. Number of people without employer-provided health coverage; Blame for reduction in Medicare coverage on soaring drug costs; Arguments for raising prices from insurance companies and health care economists; How the expense of prescription drugs adds to the health care crisis; How different companies are changing their health plan coverage.

Discusses medicare legislation before the U.S. Congress. Movement in Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare; Threat that the legislation poses to the way many of the largest pharmacy benefit managers do business; Bills that would force the companies to disclose details of the deal they make with drug manufacturers to promote the sale of expensive new drugs; Details of the legislation; Criticism of the plans.

Examines how the bills to provide drug benefits through Medicare passed by the U.S. House and Senate shift some of the burden of soaring drug costs to the federal government. How the bills would allow employers to create Medicare-subsidized managed care organizations that offer drug benefits and subsidies for employers that maintain drug coverage; Debate over how to discourage companies from dropping retiree health benefits completely; Costs; Implications for the health insurance industry.

Focuses on the operations of for-profit managed care companies during a period in which United States President George W. Bush has proposed letting private insurers take over Medicare and Medicaid. Success of such companies as UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint Health Networks; Reasons for their success, including the services they offer low-income patients; Criticism of these companies for denying more claims than most insurers and for their slow response to approval of expensive treatments.

Comments on the Medicare reform plan of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Discusses Medicare reform that could include a prescription drug benefit. Insurance companies and large employers that are pleased with the proposal made by U.S. President George W. Bush; Managed care companies that offered health insurance coverage to those on Medicare; Proposal that could offer retirees that option of traditional Medicare of alternative insurance coverage that would be at the same cost to the U.S. government.

Reports on a lawsuit filed by Medicare officials against HealthSouth Corp. due to illegal billing techniques. Investigation led by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama; Violation of payment rules for group therapy; Failing company stock; Consolidation of suits.

Reports on the rise in personal medical care costs for Medicare health maintenance organizations in 2001.

Reports that the largest United States health insurers, which recruited the elderly to Medicare Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) by offering free prescriptions, are eliminating drug coverage or demanding higher payments from some of their sickest members. The companies' justification for cutbacks; How tens of thousands of elderly patients with serious diseases are left with no affordable insurance coverage; Reduced coverage by companies such as Secure Horizons; Response of advocacy groups.

Discusses the impact of the decline in the rate of chronic disabilities in the United States on the costs of Medicare.

Reports that rising costs of prescription drugs in the United States are driving up premiums of insurance plans that supplement Medicare. How many elderly and disabled people have been forced out of the Medigap plans as a result of rising costs; Expectation that the problem will be an issue for the U.S. Congress.

Deals with the United States presidential candidate George W. Bush's program to help states ease drug costs for those covered by Medicare. Implication of Bush's proposal; Problems being faced by Pennsylvania's Medicare program; Bush's proposal for states which neither established nor authorized programs.

Reports on the role of United States pharmacy benefit management companies (PBM's) in the proposals to add a drug benefit to Medicare. PBM's which handle drug benefits for 200 million Americans; Proposal which would allow the PBM's to obtain discounts from pharmacists and rebates from drugmakers for all Medicare beneficiaries; Investigation into some PBM's by the US Justice Department due to possible illegal kickbacks.

Focuses on the proposed managed care option in the Medicare program of the United States. Details on the plan; Reaction from Diane Archer of the Medicare Rights Center; Explanation on the traditional Medicare.

Reports on the finances of managed health care plans and the Medicare program in the United States. Success in slowing growth in spending for doctors and hospitals; The financial burden of life-enhancing medical devices and procedures; Impact of technological advances on the cost of health care; Comments of health directors; Companies that have been heavily impacted by the costs, including Humana Inc. and Health Partners.

Reports on the fourth quarter earnings of Sun Healthcare Group in the United States in 1998. Impact of Medicare payment systems on company earnings; Publicly traded nursing home chains; Financial losses of the company.

Discusses how various interest groups view the kind of changes to Medicare that the commission is considering in the United States. Reason for restructuring Medicare; Expectation of for-profit hospitals; Expectation of doctors; View of health plan operators.

Provides information on Medicare and health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the United States. Areas where Medicare payments were too low to cover rising health care costs; Comments from HMO executives about the Medicare operation.

Focuses on `Medicare Plus Choice,' the revised medicare health program in the United States. Details on the program; Revisions on the health program; Implications and importance of the program.

Reveals that Oxford Health Plans, one of the biggest managed care companies in the Northeast, was dropping coverage for elderly members of its Medicare health maintenance organizations (HMO) in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Impact of Oxford's action; Other companies that have announced that they are dropping Medicare HMO members.

Reports that managed-care companies in the United States are starting, as of 1997, to cut some of the benefits that millions of elderly Americans on Medicare counted on when they signed up with health maintenance organizations (HMO). Popularity of the health plans because they fill many of the biggest gaps in Medicare including costs for prescription drugs; Cost of the plans largely paid by the government; Changes due to a cap set by Congress on 1998 payments to Medicare HMOs.

Reports on the cost-reduction rules for Medicare patients, which took effect on July 1, 1998, that may lead to the increased stay of patients in nursing homes and hospitals in the United States. Significance of the rules to nursing homes; Increase in costs incurred by hospitals as a result of the rules; Punishment of hospitals which release patients too quickly; Reduction of the earnings estimates of hospital companies including Vencor Incorporated and Tenet Healthcare.

Presents information on the effects of the broadening of the Medicare program, on the 62 to 64-year-old age groups in the United States. Experience of Nick Porto, a chemical plant technician in Donaldson, Louisiana; Detailed examination on the proposal offered by American President Bill Clinton; Perception that the plan will be too expensive for the average middle-aged American; Comments from Patricia Neuman, director of Medicare studies for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Analyzes the success of the Medicare health program in United States. Proposal to reduce the Medicare costs by Clinton Administration; Republicans' stress on the revision of Medicare. INSET: Corporate revenue on the line..

Relates the significance of the corporate sector's strategy towards managed health care, for the government's policy on Medicare. Plans to raise funds for health care; Details of the corporate strategy.

States that during the week of August 2, 1997 older Americans escaped the costly overhaul of their Medicare benefits that some lawmakers in Congress sough in Washington's budget negotiations. Impact of the Medicare benefits on older people; Number of people that joined a health maintenance organization; People that sign up monthly; Provisions of Medicare; Details on the monthly Medicare program under the budget agreement.

Looks at Medicare switch to flat payment system for illness. Reason for system; Comments from analyst Kenneth S. Abramowitz INSET: Medicare surgery..