“Medicare Advantage Healthcare Spending Exceeds Original Medicare: Policymakers may soon have to address inequities between Medicare Advantage healthcare spending and Medicare spending,” by Kelsey Waddill, Health Payer Intelligence

 

Quote:

“Escalations in Medicare Advantage healthcare spending—along with higher traditional Medicare spending—could drive scarcity in the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund and could boost Medicare Part B premiums, Kaiser Family Foundation researchers found. Despite the savings that a value-based care model affords for beneficiaries, Medicare Advantage spending is higher than traditional Medicare. Furthermore, healthcare spending is growing at a faster rate in Medicare Advantage than fee-for-service Medicare. The researchers leveraged publicly available data through CMS to analyze current spending trends in traditional Medicare Part A and Part B and to project future spending trajectories.”

 

 

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

The Social Security and Medicare trustee annual reports were due April 1 and are still not forthcoming. Something tells me those programs have a lot more to worry about than the comparative merits of MA vs. traditional Medicare.