Are you caring for someone that gets his or her medical
benefits through a Medicare Advantage plan? Or perhaps you are in one
yourself. Or are you just confused by
all the competing political rhetoric in the media about this? Why all the fuss?
Lately, the political landscape has been inundated with partisan headlines stating that the government will soon be taking Medicare away from our seniors. Nonsense!
Ads, press releases, and news quotes from certain politicians are
designed to create fear and an emotional reaction…and if they were telling the
truth, that would be OK. But the messages are full of distortions and innuendo
and are not to be taken seriously.
First of all, the public needs to understand that Medicare
Advantage was created as a back door approach to privatizing Medicare. It
should be known as the “Private Option.” Its long-range purpose is to destroy
traditional Medicare, something special interests have been trying to do since
Medicare was established in 1965.
Traditional Medicare is one of the most successful
government programs ever created. It has had decades of proven success in protecting the elderly from poverty caused by hefty medical expenses. One must think twice (maybe three times) before tampering with
such a program.
Yet this is what Medicare Advantage does. It replaces
traditional Medicare with a variety of private insurance products. It is a
remake of a previous such attempt known as Medicare + Choice, a program that
failed when the private insurers involved decided it wasn’t profitable enough
and dumped thousands of aging enrollees into the marketplace. This could happen
again.
Yet, on the surface, Medicare Advantage looks like a better
deal to many seniors. It is designed to do so by offering more benefits for a
lower premium. What can possibly be wrong with that? Well, let’s look more
closely. There are no free lunches. Never have been and never will be.
How can beneficiaries get more by spending less? Here’s how!
Government is subsidizing the premiums. Oh! So where is the money coming from
to do this? Simple! It comes from the higher premiums people on regular
Medicare have to pay so Advantage customers can enjoy these benefits. Not cool!
It gets worse. We also know that for every dollar of additional
premium that insurance companies get through Uncle Sam, only about 14 cents
goes to benefits and 86 cents goes to additional insurance company
profits. Medicare Advantage is a
boondoggle to the insurance companies!
So the screams you hear about the pain of ending some
Medicare Advantage programs is coming from protectors of insurance company
profits disguised as concern for elderly patients. Crocodile tears if ever
there were any.
Yes, it’s true that some Medicare Advantage beneficiaries
might have to switch to traditional Medicare. The result: they’ll have to pay a
bit more to get a little less. But the rest of the Medicare community, the
majority of older adults, would see their premiums come down.
Remember all of this when next you hear the scream machine
trying to get you worked up about this issue.
