Medicare+Choice: Plan Withdrawals Indicate Difficulty of Providing Choice While Achieving Savings

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed health care plans' withdrawal from the Medicare Choice program, focusing on the: (1) geographic distribution and the distribution among plans of enrollees affected by the recent plan withdrawals; (2) factors associated with plans that terminated or reduced their participation in the program; and (3) likely role of payment rates in affecting plans' decisions.