PACIFICARE: Medicare HMO Succeeds Where Others Fail
PacifiCare Health Systems, which has been able to weather the Medicare HMO storms that have rocked other managed care plans, is looking to expand its Secure Horizons plan into areas of the country where United HealthCare Corp., Foundation Health Systems Inc. and Oxford Health Plans Inc. experienced big losses, Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Times reports. The company "is looking to boost earnings by expanding Secure Horizons to big new markets," according to Secure Horizons USA unit President Craig Schub. Schub added that the expansion could be completed by "acquiring a troubled competitor, setting up a new HMO or entering an agreement to manage one that's already in business." The company is looking to move Secure Horizons into the metropolitan New York market, "where money-losing competitor Oxford Health Plans Inc. has stopped marketing its Medicare plan to new members following a federal review that criticized the company." Secure Horizons is also considering moves into the Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Cleveland and Wichita markets (8/12). Click Medicare HMO to read recent coverage of several HMOs' difficulties in this market segment.
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