Accountable Care Organizations are New in 2012 for Medicare

Health insurance in general is a topic that has created many firestorms in recent years as we all start to agree that some inequities exist.  New programs continue to pop up for all health insurance companies to overcome this and Medicare has joined the fray as well.  Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have been added by Medicare in 2012 to help improve the health insurance experience overall.

An Accountable Care Organization is a group of providers that team up to try to improve quality, cost and care for health insurance customers as a whole.  Your primary care doctor can become a part of an Accountable Care Organization and help to get on the same page as Medicare and the coverage that they provide.  You can continue, however, to see your current doctor if they are already a part of an Accountable Care Organization.

If your doctor doesn’t participate in an Accountable Care Organization you can choose to switch doctors to one that does.  However, you do not have to switch doctors if you like yours and they are not a part of an ACO.  For more information, visit www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.