Rural Medicare Patients Jettisoned by CareFirst

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CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield yesterday became the last local health maintenance organization to drop coverage of Medicare enrollees for rural areas in Maryland, meaning about 14,000 elderly patients on Medicare no longer can join a Medicare HMO in most of the state.

CareFirst, the largest Medicare HMO in Maryland and the District, is one of several HMOs this week to announce plans to drop coverage of more than 200,000 Medicare enrollees nationwide next year because they say government payments are not keeping up with rising medical costs.

This round of cuts follows two years of similar moves by other HMOs. The health plans were required to notify federal …