Government offers funds to help switch seniors from terminated Fox Insurance plan

Some states will receive additional funding for insurance information programs for seniors after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services terminated a federal contract with Fox Insurance Company.

So far, two states have been provided additional funding, according to a joint CMS and Department of Health and Human Services statement Tuesday. The Florida insurance information program Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders (SHINE) is scheduled to receive $274,000 in additional funding, while North Carolina's Senior's Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) will receive $120,000. Florida and North Carolina had the largest number of Medicare enrollees in the Fox prescription drug plan, according to the release. Medicare terminated its Part D contract with Fox on March 9 after an on-site review revealed serious policy violations. (McKnight's, 3/11/10) It was the first time since the implementation of Medicare Part D that CMS has terminated a contract with a drug plan.

Former Fox enrollees will be able to choose a new Medicare prescription drug plan through May 1, 2010. All former Fox enrollees are currently obtaining their drugs through LI-NET, a program run by Medicare and administered by Humana.