PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island’s Office of the Attorney General announced Thursday that residents with Medicare Advantage plans through UnitedHealthcare (UHC) who are interested in switching insurance providers have been granted a special enrollment period by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Since the contract between UHC Medicare Advantage and Brown University Health’s Rhode Island hospitals ended July 1, scheduled treatments at Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Newport Hospital have been canceled for numerous UHC Medicare Advantage patients or billed as “out-of-network” care.
Rhode Island’s Office of Healthy Aging told 12 News on June 30 that “a significant number of older Rhode Islanders” are either unable or unwilling to change their health care providers and will thus face increased costs or reduced access to treatment, as Medicare’s open enrollment period doesn’t begin until Oct. 15.
BACKGROUND: OHA requests special enrollment period for UHC Medicare Advantage patients
“Unlike Medicaid, which is managed at the state level, Medicare is a federal health insurance program managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),” OHA spokesperson Steven Boudreau explained at the time. “As such, OHA is working quickly with federal and state partner agencies to request a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) through the most effective and efficient channels possible.”…