Washington, DC - Congressman Gene Green today made the following statement regarding the announcement by PacifiCare of Texas to stop offering its Medicare HMO Secure Horizons in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties beyond this year.

 

“I’m really saddened to know that more than 25,000 residents in the Houston area are going to have to deal with the loss of their HMO coverage.  It is bad enough that current premiums and  prescription drug costs are barely affordable.

 

“We have been working with the HMOs to deal with the problems they are having and it is unfortunate that they don’t have the patience to allow us to work something out before pulling out of the entire market.  It also leaves me to wonder why they are pulling out of Houston but maintaining service in other markets where they have experienced significant losses.

 

“At least seven private insurers have left the Houston market since 2000, leaving seniors holding the bag.  The bottom line is we need to provide a prescription drug benefit under Medicare so that seniors do not have to worry about losing their coverage every year.”