Alliance of Delray members are aware that President Bob Schulbaum has contacted U. S. Congressman Wexler and Palm Beach County State legislators to register dismay at once again discovering wide disparities between HMO patient benefits paid to subscribers in Miami-Dade as compared to Palm Beach County residents.

U. S. Congressmen Wexler, Klein, Hastings and Mahoney as well as state elected officials have sent letters to Gov. Crist requesting him to restore parity between counties. Miami Dade now receives $233 more per HMO member per month than Palm Beach County HMO members. It gets worse in 2009. Scheduled increase for Palm Beach County is 4% while Miami Dade will get a 13% increase. In dollars that will be $344 more a month for Miami Dade than Palm Beach County.

When asked why this difference, the director of the actuarial group at Medicare stated, “It is because Medicare spending in Miami Dade is unusually high compared to other counties—they received more medical services than their neighbors. The reason why has not been determined at this time, but this difference has been known for years.”

“This is the second time in the past three years,” said Schulbaum “we have had to fight this inequity by seeking the help of our elected officials. It was changed then by the incumbent Governor and it should be changed now. We invite the Budget Director in Washington to attend a mass meeting of our citizens to explain to us why Palm Beach County HMO participants are receiving less HMO reimbursement benefits than those in Miami Dade. There should be no difference.”

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