Medicare itself may be the most prominent beneficiary of its Medicare Advantage plans.
That's what several health care industry professionals and lawmakers suggested this week during Medicare hearings held by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Medicare Advantage has the potential to be "the solution to entitlement reform around health benefits," testified Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. Aetna is seeking government approval of its acquisition of Humana. If the deal goes through, it would give Aetna market coverage of more than 90 percent of the population that's eligible for Medicare. Then, he said, Aetna could offer a "nationally portable" Advantage plan that theoretically would put the brakes on Medicare's escalating cost.
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At that point, Bertolini said, Medicare Advantage would become the default coverage plan for most seniors.
Questions have been raised about the Advantage program, but with bipartisan support in Congress and the backing of big insurers like Aetna, Advantage is poised to be become the government's go-to insurance for seniors.
In large measure that's because folks pay for it more or less according to their means and medical needs, eliminating the "entitlement" argument against Medicare.
Harvard economics professor Katherine Baicker said with some adjustments, Medicare Advantage plans could result in a "thriving and competitive Medicare Advantage program [and] be a vital contributor to high quality beneficiary care in a sustainable healthcare system."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
