CMS Softens Medicare Advantage Funding Changes

For any of you placing all of your eggs in one basket (Medicare Advantage) you are taking a risk. In the late 90's there was a program called Medicare Choice. Funding was reduced and carriers stopped offering the plans. The point is, if someone else (government) is funding what you're selling, there's always the risk it could go away.

With that said, one of the big differences now compared to the late 90's is that carriers have pricing power over their product. They didn't with the Medicare Choice program. Also, there are millions more covered under Medicare Advantage plans than with Medicare Choice. The longer Medicare Advantage is around, the harder it will be to gut it completely for fear of losing those votes.
 
Around here you would have assumed so

In the Washington political climate, with seniors and their advocacy/lobbying groups, it will be nearly impossible to ever curtail the growth in Medicare spending.

Good for agents and seniors, bad for the ponzi scheme that'll eventually collapse.

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This is GREAT news for us MA guys!! Another (perhaps short-lived) sigh of relief.
 
I agree with SMAN...

When Medicare+Choice came about, the industry was rocked hard.

But, as mentioned, the plans have a lot more members now, and I am sure both parties want to keep the seniors voting for them & both parties will take credit for it as well. No one wants to be part of the party that made seniors pay more (or in political advertisement speak, forced seniors to choose between food and medical care).
 
For any of you placing all of your eggs in one basket (Medicare Advantage) you are taking a risk.

Very true. I write a lot of MA but 2/3 are med supp. Glad for those 1/3 and my renewals on them.
 
I hadn't checked the stock prices of these MA companies but they're doing extremely well....and based on current news they have had a nice spike last 2 days.
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Let me clarify that....I hadn't checked their stock prices in about a year and after reading today's financial news....saw the surge.
 
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I agree with SMAN...

When Medicare+Choice came about, the industry was rocked hard.

But, as mentioned, the plans have a lot more members now, and I am sure both parties want to keep the seniors voting for them & both parties will take credit for it as well. No one wants to be part of the party that made seniors pay more (or in political advertisement speak, forced seniors to choose between food and medical care).



Another difference is the name change to MA was also part of the Medicare Modernization Act that introduced part D in 2006 at which time Medicare + Choice had only about 5 % penetration of the 40 million medicare beneficiaries enrolled compared to 2013 where MA has about 27% of the 50 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled.

I think many of the people who have stayed on original Medicare have done it because they are seniors and that's what older people do - keep the policy they already have.They don't need any new fangeled type of Medicare insurance.Most of the T65 I speak with are already aware of the 2 options they have for Medicare and want to know about both -unless they have been ambushed by a Banker's Life agent first and told of the horrors of an MA plan.

I believe the MA train has left the station and it is going to play a big part of how people get their Medicare for a long time.
 
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