At minimum they must cover the same benefits. But they are free to charge what they want.
Here's an easy example:
Medicare Pt A Hospital deductible is $1,340.
MAPD hospital charge $325 each of 1st 6 days.
The difference is the MAPD includes all services including physician charges. However it is possible the person pays more under the MA plan than Medicare.
Rick.
Certainly, in this case, without the MAPD the OOP costs for a 6 day hospital stay would surpass the Pt A deductible by several thousand dollars.
This is the way I've understood it but I see so many discussions about how MAs don't pay as good as OM.
I tend to think this would, primarily, be the case if there are multiple hospital stays or if the person has an acute/chronic/critical illness which would run up costs to an MAPD's MOOP.
Is my thinking flawed?