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About Medicare Advantage Plans - Talk Business & Politics
No doubt about it – many seniors have selected “Medicare Advantage” as their preferred type of healthcare plan. Essentially, Medicare Advantage replaces the federal government’s “original Medicare” with healthcare coverage from a private insurance company. Medicare Advantage plans usually offer additional healthcare services not provided by original Medicare, making them quite attractive as evidenced by the exponential growth in these plans over the past decade. But reality is that these plans also have some restrictions which may not sit well with beneficiaries and medical service providers, which has thrust them into the Congressional spotlight. This, in turn, has the federal CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) agency focused on actions to mitigate the pitfalls and disadvantages of Medicare Advantage plans.
All of this is discussed at length in this opinion piece Craig Wilson, who is the director of health policy for an independent and non-partisan Arkansas health policy center. Although the article, appearing in “TB&P” (Talk Business & Politics), is specific to Arkansas, the issue is a national one, and any action taken by CMS will affect Medicare Advantage plans nationwide. Click here to read the article.