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UPMC Health Plan will hold the line on monthly premiums for its Medicare HMO next year and will offer a scaled-back plan with no monthly premiums for Allegheny County residents.

The health plan's HMO for seniors is the smallest in the region with about 15,000 members. About 3,300 of them live in Allegheny County. Officials at the health plan, a subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, on Monday released rates for 2004.

The new, zero-premium plan, known as UPMC for Life Basic, carries slightly higher out-of-pocket costs. For instance, there is a $100 charge for each hospital stay, compared to no charges for those in the Medicare HMO's two other plans.

In addition, co-payments for visits to primary care doctors and specialists are higher than those for the other UPMC for Life plans.

UPMC for Life Basic will carry premiums for those who live outside Allegheny County: $35 a month for those who live in Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties, and $70 a month for Mercer County residents.

UPMC Health Plan spokesman Bill Sawchak said those who choose the basic plan will save money because it will cover the $876 annual deductible that Medicare recipients are required to pay in 2004. The plan also will eliminate a 20 percent co-payment for most services.

Premiums for UPMC for Life Deluxe will go down slightly, from $34 to $30 a month. Premiums for UPMC for Life Deluxe with drugs, the only plan with a prescription drug benefit, will remain the same as last year at $95 a month.

In September, the leading HMO for seniors in Western Pennsylvania announced a substantial hike in its monthly premiums. Premiums for SecurityBlue, operated by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, will go up an average of $33 a month. Its standard Medicare plan, which is its most popular and includes a prescription drug benefit, will rise from $97 to $129 monthly.

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