A recent blog post (“Correcting the Record”) from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) provides an inaccurate description of how the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) compares spending in the Medicare Advantage (MA) program to Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) spending. The blog questions MedPAC’s long-standing assessment that, when properly compared, Medicare spends more overall for enrollees in… Read more »
Category: Medicare Advantage (Part C)
March 2016 report highlight: HRAs and risk adjustment
MedPAC’s March 2016 report contains two recommendations for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. This post will focus on the MA recommendation pertaining to health risk assessments (HRAs).
Including hospice benefit in the MA benefit package
The Medicare hospice benefit is not included in the Medicare Advantage (MA) benefits package. MA enrollees who elect hospice remain in their MA plans, but fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare pays for their hospice services. This carve-out of hospice from MA fragments care accountability and financial responsibility for MA enrollees who elect hospice.
MedPAC examines MA and Part D plan accessibility
Every year, the Commission provides a status report on the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs. These reports were presented at our December and January meetings. To monitor each program’s performance, we examine enrollment trends, and plan availability for the coming year, as well as a variety of other factors.
Do new Medicare beneficiaries choose Medicare Advantage right away?
If you missed the Commission meeting last week, you might have missed this piece of analysis. In 2012, about 28% of all Medicare beneficiaries (who have Part A and Part B) were enrolled in private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Recently, there has been a widely reported claim in the policy community that half of all new Medicare beneficiaries are now joining MA. The story sort of works like this: in 2012, the total number of beneficiaries in Medicare grew by two million, while the number of beneficiaries in MA grew by 1 million. These facts are true, but despite how it might sound, this does not mean that half of all new beneficiaries chose MA.