Universal Health Care's woes raise question for policyholders

ST. PETERSBURG -- Now that Florida is moving to shut down Universal Health Care, what happens to the coverage of those 100,000 people who had Medicare Advantage plans? Health experts don't exactly know, because it's rare for the state to shut down a company this rapidly. A Leon County judge last week appointed the state Department of Financial Services as the receiver for the financially troubled St. Petersburg insurer and set an April 1 date for liquidating its assets. What remains of those assets will be used to pay existing claims first, but that doesn't help the patient with the costly prescription drugs or the advanced surgery scheduled for next month.