For Immediate Release

November 18, 1999

CLALLAM SENIORS IN GROUP HEALTH COOPERATIVE
AIDED BY PROVISION IN APPROPRIATIONS BILL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Clallam County seniors who will be affected by Group Health Cooperative’s decision to leave the county will get relief from a small provision inserted into an appropriations bill approved by the House of Representatives today, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said.

       Over the last month, Dicks worked with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, to fashion a waiver that would allow an estimated 175 Medicare recipients in Clallam County to receive care at Group Health facilities in other counties, particularly in nearby Kitsap County, after Group Health ceases offering service in Clallam. Without the waiver, these seniors outside of the Kitsap Service area could not have used the HMO’s facilities in Kitsap County, and they would have been forced to shift to different types of health plans which may not have offered the "managed care" type of coverage provided by Group Health.

       "Though it was a small amendment to the Medicare payment restoration bill we were considering in the House, it makes a huge difference for my constituents who were medically stranded by Group Health’s departure from Clallam County," Rep. Dicks stated. The Medicare bill was approved today within a large multi-agency appropriations bill just before Congress adjourned.

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