What will be the future of Medicare Advantage Plans? (medical, hospital, doctor)

[Escort Rider]

I phrased the thread title as a question because I honestly don't know the answer and have not been able to find any real analysis. We all know that, in response to Medicare spending more per enrollee to fund care in the Advantage plans than for original Medicare, the recent health care reform legislation mandated a reduction in the Advantage spending. But knowing the dollar amount of the reduction does not tell us its severity unless we know the total amount of the spending (which I do not).

Some posters have claimed that the Advantage plans will simply have to go away, but this seems a little extreme in the absence of hard data to back it up. I tend to think there will simply be an increase in the costs extracted by the Advantage plans from their enrollees, such as premiums and co-pays, but that the plans will continue pretty much intact otherwise. However, I have no hard data to back up my feeling either.

We will know the answer in October or early November as the plans send out their renewal notices to current enrollees and solicit new enrollees. By then the plans themselves will have to have figured it out, at least for 2011. Does anyone have a link to a solid analysis of this question? (I am real curious about this, so I hope I won't have to wait until October to find something out). It is a question that will impact a whole lot of seniors.

[texdav]

What is happenig is no large payments to advanatge plans verus pay fo service medicare. Either the plan go up in patient cost or the coverage goes down.I wouldn't go this route when I be come 65 because i have drugs and supplement thru employer. But the crazy thing they actually do more at a low cost compared to what governamnt does from stats.Not just that but provider reimbursement is dropping which will effect both pay fo service and advantages plans since they will be eqaul. That may mean the end of advanatge plans which maybe the aim of democrats who want no kill it because it is effecive and not there paln.

[knoxgarden]

DId you get the brochure from Medicare about this? It explains a lot. You can get more info on Medicare's website or here:
The Affordable Care Act: Strengthening Medicare, Combating Misinformation and Protecting America's Senior | The White House
The changes will be phased in and it will be more out-of-pocket. I prefer the Advantage plan because I want to make sure I can find a doctor/hospital that will take it and I prefer the fixed costs of co-pay. I'll do some hard research this fall when the new info is out.
Health Care reform is going to mean a lot of changes for everyone.

[cdelena]

Press coverage...

President Obama has described Medicare Advantage as a "waste," and Congress has agreed, proposing $132 billion worth of cuts to the program over 10 years in the health reform package.

Given the proposed cuts, health insurers may drop some of these extras or insurers may cut benefits and/or increase premiums, experts say.

These cuts could cost insurers to drop Medicare Advantage and seniors to leave the program. In fact, CBO estimates that Medicare Advantage enrollment would drop by 4.8 million members by 2019.

[texdav]

It was the inreased payments to advanatge plans that provide the service now. The intent of congress in thsi bill is to make it eqaul in cost to pay for service. That mean it must offer something better at same price which will mean much higher cost or elimination. All one has to do is look at the democrats fights snce it became avialable to see they want them elimnated. this is a way to do just that. Its a shame IMO becuase many accept teh less chopcie for more coverqge because they can not afford to pay more.

[Old Man Winter]

MA plans will eventually go away, they will have to in order for the companies to remain profitable. With the federal subsidy being cut, many plans have already removed the gym memberships, vision and dental coverage. Many have almost doubled your daily hospital co pays, increased premiums or increased co pays to the doctors. As the reduction in subsidy continues through January, plans will have no option but to reduce services and/or increase your out of pocket cost. At some point it will become a financial liability for the companies and they will end the contract with Medicare and people in the plan will need to find other options. The writting is on the wall for Medicare Advantage I think. If Medicare is going to remain a viable option they will need to be eliminated as part of the cost savings to keep Medicare afloat.

[Gandalara]

Originally Posted by Old Man Winter

many plans have already removed the gym memberships, vision and dental coverage.

Poor dental health has been linked to major medical problems. Stupid morons.

If they had any sense (yeah, right), they'd keep the dental program, and remove any viagra prescriptions unless the patient is checked for high blood pressure (as initially intended) by five different doctors.

[Old Man Winter]

Originally Posted by Gandalara

Poor dental health has been linked to major medical problems. Stupid morons.

If they had any sense (yeah, right), they'd keep the dental program, and remove any viagra prescriptions unless the patient is checked for high blood pressure (as initially intended) by five different doctors.

Medicare part D no longer covers any meds for erectile dysfunction. I believe they stopped paying for those meds in early 2008.

[Gandalara]

I hadn't heard that!
The government does something that makes sense!

http://bestsmileys.com/fainting/1.gif (broken link)

[Escort Rider]

Thanks for providing us that link. I read it, but noted that it spoke only in vague generalities. Nothing specific to hang your hat on. I have not yet received anything in the mail from Medicare; perhaps that will be more specific, but I'm certainly not counting on it. Perhaps it is just too early.