The recently signed health care reform legislation calls for a reduction in payments to Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C). This is accomplished by freezing payments to the health care plans and is designed to save $130 billion over the next ten years. UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. and other insurers will receive the same payment rates in 2011 as this year. Part C plans cover about eleven million Medicare beneficiaries. Freezing the payment may save the government money, but it hardly is beneficial to the Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in such plans. Freezing premiums does nothing to lower health care costs and there is only so much you can squeeze without the balloon bulging in another place. In this case it will mean higher premiums for those enrolled in the Part C plans.
The fact that Medicare Advantage plans cost the government more than basic Medicare is a reflection of actions by Congress in determining payments by the government and the higher benefits offered by the plans. While there may be a valid argument that these plans should not cost more than Medicare A&B, the fact remains that the eleven million beneficiaries in these plans are getting the short end of the stick . And, we should not lose sight of the fact that the very people we now trust with managing our health care are the same people who allowed this condition to exist.
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