Medicare Advantage—Big Advantage for Insurers; Little Advantage for Seniors
Medicare has ordered private insurers to stop sending letters to their Medicare Advantage customers, telling them that proposed health reform legislation could hurt them and jeopardize their benefits. Now those who oppose reform are complaining that the government is violating insurers’ right to free speech. I would argue that Medicare is telling insurers’ that they can’t cry “fire” in a crowded theater—particularly when there is no fire. Medicare is quite right to describe the letters as “confusing and misleading.” Here is an example of a letter Humana has been sending out:
“Leading health reform proposals being considered in Washington, D.C., this summer include billions in Medicare Advantage funding cuts, as well as spending reductions to original Medicare and Medicaid. While these programs need to be made more efficient, if the proposed funding cut levels become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans valuable.”
The letter is a classic example of fear-mongering. First, it is very vague: What “proposed funding cut levels”? Which “important benefits and services?” What “spending reductions to original Medicare? By virtue of being so vague, it will make every letter-reader feel that he or she is about to become the victim of Draconian cuts.
What the letter doesn’t explain is that cuts to traditional Medicare are specifically designed to lift the quality of care while reducing costs by paying providers for the quality of care that they provide, rather than the volume. Medicare also hopes to use higher fees and lower-copays to steer patients and physicians toward the most effective treatments for patients who meet a particular medical profile, Medicare could save substantial sums—and protect patients form unnecessary treatments, as well as the side effects and risks that accompany those treatments.
Read the rest.
Source: Heath Beat By Maggie Mahar
