ObamaCare and Medicare

axeman462

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Florida
I get asked this question often from seniors I sit down with:
"how will obamacare effect my medicare?"

i can never give a clear definate answer, because I can never find any real clear and definate answers myself.

I have read before that most of the $716 Billion cuts are coming out of Medicare Advantage, but it seems these cuts keep getting delayed.
I also keep hearing that medicare advantage will not exist within the next 5 years from random agents (although most of the ones that say this are biased towards med supps)

Is any of this true? And how will obamacare effect medicare if at all?
 
In short - to keep things simple :

- There will be less funding for the Medicare Advantage program. Advantage plans will likely stay around (At least that's what they tell us) but may cut some benefits and/or increase premiums.
- The donut hole will have more "help." Medicare.gov has a chart on this showing the percentage changes through 2020. I'd put the link up, but I'm on a mobile device...
- Med Supps are supposedly going to be restructured - we'll see how that goes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'm sure there is more, but I think these are the main issues.
 
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I get asked this question often from seniors I sit down with:
"how will obamacare effect my medicare?"

i can never give a clear definate answer, because I can never find any real clear and definate answers myself.

I have read before that most of the $716 Billion cuts are coming out of Medicare Advantage, but it seems these cuts keep getting delayed.
I also keep hearing that medicare advantage will not exist within the next 5 years from random agents (although most of the ones that say this are biased towards med supps)

Is any of this true? And how will obamacare effect medicare if at all?

The $716 billion isn't coming solely from Medicare Advantage. Part of it is coming from reduction of reimbursements to doctors and hospitals from Medicare. Of course, the "Doc Fix" has been kicked down the road many times so who knows if these reductions in reimbursements will actually take place.

As to how this will impact your Medicare clients, if the reductions do take place, it's likely fewer doctors will accept Medicare. This means fewer doctors for Medicare beneficiaries to see.

The reduction in funds to Medicare Advantage are going to happen unless Congress and Obama make changes. If the cuts go through as planned, we will likely see more consolidation in that market. Probably more cost shifting to the beneficiary as well (i.e. - larger copays and higher premiums), but I don't think Medicare Advantage plans will go away completely unless there are more cuts in the future. Keep in mind, there are about 14 million people enrolled in MA plans. That's a very large voting block to anger. However, I do agree that there is no reason to provide MA carriers more money than the cost of Medicare. If their claim to provide Medicare benefits at a lower cost than Medicare itself is true, then they should be willing to accept less money to provide those benefits.

Needless to say, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket. For those agents who sell nothing but MA plans, it's time to diversify. Otherwise you could see a dramatic drop in income.
 
On a slightly related note (don't want to create a new post in case I missed discussion already), anyone around here read this gargantuan Time article? I thought it did a good job of focusing on the question of costs in the first place rather than just who pays the cost. The comparison of Costmaster pricing vs. Medicare reimbursement was telling

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us | TIME.com
 
There has been talk about new Medigap plan designs, but nothing definitive yet and it is not part of Alibamacrap.

Cuts to provider payments is HUGE and will impact access to health care regardless of your coverage.
 
The $716 billion isn't coming solely from Medicare Advantage. Part of it is coming from reduction of reimbursements to doctors and hospitals from Medicare. Of course, the "Doc Fix" has been kicked down the road many times so who knows if these reductions in reimbursements will actually take place.

As to how this will impact your Medicare clients, if the reductions do take place, it's likely fewer doctors will accept Medicare. This means fewer doctors for Medicare beneficiaries to see.

The reduction in funds to Medicare Advantage are going to happen unless Congress and Obama make changes. If the cuts go through as planned, we will likely see more consolidation in that market. Probably more cost shifting to the beneficiary as well (i.e. - larger copays and higher premiums), but I don't think Medicare Advantage plans will go away completely unless there are more cuts in the future. Keep in mind, there are about 14 million people enrolled in MA plans. That's a very large voting block to anger. However, I do agree that there is no reason to provide MA carriers more money than the cost of Medicare. If their claim to provide Medicare benefits at a lower cost than Medicare itself is true, then they should be willing to accept less money to provide those benefits.

Needless to say, I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket. For those agents who sell nothing but MA plans, it's time to diversify. Otherwise you could see a dramatic drop in income.

If the govt would spend more time letting the MA insurance companies "insure" and less time having goofy regulations and requirements then they probably could come in well below traditional medicare spending.....

if you are truly going to "outsource" it then fing outsource it.... you cant have your cake and eat it 2... unless your the govt
 
While they are cutting the overall "pie" of $$ for Medicare advantage plans, they are also instituting a series of 'performance based' measures (including the 5 star rating system), that will allow companies that provide efficient plans that consumers like to garner bonus dollars vs. their competition. In addition those who earn 5 star ratings will be able to market all year while their competitiors sit on the bench. In essence I think what that is going to create is a lot of corporate consolidation - we're already seeing it in my market. Only the largest companies will be able to produce feature rich plans at a lower cost, due to economies of scale & ability to deal with so much government regulation & reporting. So, I think you'll still see some good Advantage plans, but they will all come from a few very large insurance carriers.
 
Don't know about your state, but there are no 5 star MA plans in Georgia.

The govt star rating is BS.

I have no idea what the rating was on Universal Health or Silverscript before they got in trouble, but I bet it wasn't 0 stars.
 
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