``Your Healthcare Coverage Purchase Decision Rivals House or Car Shopping'' -- Says Santa Clara County IPA.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 2002

Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association (SCCIPA):

-- SCCIPA Urges 'Shop Carefully' for Health Care Coverage During Open Enrollment

-- To assure physician continuity, ask your physician which medical groups and health plans he/she is affiliated with, and review the list of participating physicians provided by the plans

Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association (SCCIPA), a San Jose-based medical group or individual practice association that links over 700 private physicians and 100,000 HMO patients to most large California HMOs and Medicare+Choice plans, is concerned that consumers may spend more time choosing a home or a car than they spend selecting the right health plan to provide their family with healthcare coverage.

Said SCCIPA CEO Larry Bonham, MD, "Rapidly rising health insurance costs, which climbed an average 12.7 percent last year, will result in workers paying more of their health plan expenses in 2003, including a greater percent of their monthly premiums, deductibles, co-payments and other charges. Employees must be able to make informed choices when selecting their healthcare coverage -- now more than ever."

SCCIPA urges employees to thoroughly understand their health coverage options promoted heavily in the next two months during "Open Enrollment" -- the time each year when employers give the nation's workers the opportunity to choose a new health plan to meet their needs.

"The money spent by insurers and consumers on health care rose 10 percent last year per capita, the first time it hit double digits in more than a decade," according to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a non-partisan research group in Washington, DC. Study results were published in Health Affairs, September 26, 2002.

Said SCCIPA's Dr. Bonham, "The study revealed that last year healthcare spending grew seven times faster than the overall economy, with hospital costs eclipsing prescription drugs as the leading factor. With costs spiraling, the consumer will be forced to share the increasing financial responsibility with their health plan for their total health care coverage."

Susan Pisano, VP Communications, Association of Health Plans (AAHP), the nation's principal association of health plans, provides some common sense guidelines to help consumers in the selection process.

Said Pisano, "I always suggest that people evaluate their health plan in terms of what is most important to them, and that they go a little beyond the basics. The basics include evaluating general costs, and coverage, making sure there are doctors and hospitals in your neighborhood, and checking to see if your doctors are in the network, if that is important to you."

Added Pisano, "I think a lot of people evaluate things as though everything is going to happen between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, and in a planned way. But folks ought to know how and when to get advice, and where they will get care after hours, how they will access their benefits when they are out of the area, and how to work through the system if there is a problem."

The American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) is the nation's principal association of health plans, representing more than 1,000 plans that provide coverage for approximately 170 million Americans nationwide. Member plans include health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), other similar health plans and utilization review organizations (UROs). AAHP's recommendations on How to Choose a Health Plan are posted on their website http://www.aahp.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inside_AAHP/For_Consumers/ How_to_Choose_a_Health_Plan1/How_to_Choose_a_Health_Plan.htm).

About Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association

Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association is a San Jose-based medical group or individual practice association that links over 700 private physicians and 100,000 HMO patients to most large California HMOs and Medicare+Choice plans. SCCIPA uses 8 local hospitals located throughout Santa Clara County -- from Palo Alto to San Jose, Los Gatos and Gilroy. SCCIPA physicians are linked by a secure Internet system that offers health plan members and physician office staff speedy referrals, authorizations and answers to eligibility questions. SCCIPA contracts with Aetna US Healthcare, Blue Cross CaliforniaCare, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA, Health Net, One Health Plan, PacifiCare, Secure Horizons (PacifiCare) and Seniority Plus (Health Net). SCCIPA's website is http://www.sccipa.com.