“Medicare Advantage plans ‘robust’ at the expense of traditional Medicare plans: report”

 

“Medicare Advantage plans ‘robust’ at the expense of traditional Medicare plans: report,” by Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnight’s Senior Living 

 

 

Quote:

“Reducing payments to Medicare Advantage plans would ensure the sustainability of the Medicare program while maintaining access to popular plans that place a premium on quality care and preventive services, according to a new report. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, in its annual report to Congress on Tuesday, reviewed the status of Medicare Advantage, saying that many indicators point to an ‘increasingly robust’ program. … Taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries don’t realize any savings from plan efficiencies. Instead, MedPAC estimates that Medicare spends 4% more for Medicare Advantage enrollees than it would have spent if those enrolled remained in traditional Medicare plans.”

 

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

If Medicare beneficiaries don’t get any benefits from MA plans, why are do they prefer them in greater and greater numbers? Here again MedPAC, lost in the central planning trees, misses the market forest expressed in consumer preferences.