Medicare Advantage - Why you should know

If you're under 65, chances are you don't know a lot about a program known as Medicare Advantage. But you will be hearing a lot more about it soon. It has become a major front in the growing war that the insurance industry is waging on the Obama Administration's health reform effort. On Tuesday, the health insurance lobby launched a seven-figure ad campaign in at least a half-dozen states warning: "Congress is proposing over $100 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage. ... Many seniors will see cuts in benefits."

So what should you know about Medicare Advantage?

The first thing to know, as Ezra Klein has noted, is that Medicare Advantage is not the same thing as Medicare. It is an option that Medicare beneficiaries have had since the 1970s to get their coverage through private insurance companies, rather than the government. It was a big favorite of the Republicans who ran Congress during the 1990s. They poured much more money into the program in hopes that more seniors would sign up with the insurance companies that were promising better service at lower prices. And it has proven to be a pretty sweet deal, at least for the insurance companies and the beneficiaries. For the government--well, not so much.


Excerpt from TIME @ http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/15/medicare-advantage/?iid=moreontime#ixzz0U2lGD2LH

So, no, not the beneficiaries...

Make that sweet deal for the INSURANCE LEECH PARASITES.

Also see Scaring Stupid people.
Also see Scaring Scary people.

Let advantage compete with Medicare on its own.

Actually, back in the 80s, HMOs did a good job of so competing -- because they offered drug coverage, so elders signed up to them as the only way to get drug coverage. The HMOs could make profits so long as they could keep hospitalizations down, which most were already good at doing. And large HMOs could negotiate low drug prices. Of course, then drug prices really took off as the pharmaceutical industry concentrated, and the HMOs really hurt. So, in the 90s, the GOP Congress gave private insurers hefty subsidies under Medicare Advantage -- i.e., since private insurers couldn't compete on a level playing field, the GOP tilted the field in their favor. It's time to level it once more.