Ominous warnings about Medicare Advantage plans have sounded for more than a year now.
Carriers say federal funding cuts to these privately run versions of Medicare will force them to whack plan benefits, hike premiums or leave some geographic markets entirely as they continue to fight rising health care costs. The government is paring back the money it provides for this coverage as part of its effort to fund the health care overhaul, which aims to cover millions of uninsured people.
Plan changes are starting to crystallize for Medicare Advantage customers who are about a month into the annual open enrollment window in which they can search for new coverage. Benefits experts say patients are seeing fewer plan choices this year, and more are losing doctors from their insurance coverage networks. Open enrollment lasts until Dec. 7, and many customers wait until the final weeks to pick a plan.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
