Insurance cost to drop

SHARON, Pa. -- Some 5,000 Mercer County subscribers to the Medicare Plus Choice supplemental insurance program will see their premium costs go down.
U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, said the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 is providing higher federal reimbursements for member care, allowing the insurance carriers to drop their rates which have been increasing over the past several years.
"I am pleased that seniors in western Pennsylvania will see a dramatic decrease in their monthly Medicare Advantage [formerly Medicare Plus Choice] premiums," English said.
The rate change takes effect in March, he said.
Residents of Mercer and Crawford counties will now pay $52 a month, down from $121, for the basic package which includes basic health care and routine vision and hearing insurance.
Rates for the standard package, which covers everything in the basic package plus $150 per quarter in prescription coverage, will be cut from $161 to $92 a month.
A Freedom Blue PPO package, which allows subscribers to go out of their insurance network for services with the same benefits as the standard plan, will see rates lowered from $197 to $128 a month.
The new rates are lower than the 2003 rates imposed by insurance carriers.