Tom Scully, head of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, will talk to the public from 10:30 a.m. to noon at UPMC Horizon WomanCare Center, 875 N. Hermitage Road in Hermitage. The event is being hosted by U.S. Rep. Phil English.

Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services is a federal agency which provides reimbursements to insurers offering Medicare HMOs in the Medicare+Choice program.

For more than two years insurers doing Medicare HMO business in Mercer and Crawford counties have received lower reimbursement rates because the federal agency said the two counties are rural areas.

Lawrence County and other counties surrounding Pittsburgh are in designated metropolitan areas which means higher reimbursements. As a result, seniors in Mercer and Crawford counties pay up to eight times more in monthly premiums than Lawrence County residents of a similar insurance package.