Premiums Jump 14 Percent on Medicare Private Plans

[toomuchtime_]

Millions of seniors who signed up for popular private health plans through Medicare are facing sharp premium increases this year — another sign that spiraling costs are a problem even for those with solid insurance.

A study to be released Friday by a major consulting firm found that premiums for Medicare Advantage plans offering medical and prescription drug coverage jumped 14.2 percent on average in 2010, after an increase of only 5.2 percent the previous year. Some 8.5 million elderly and disabled Americans are in the plans, which provide more comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare.

"These premium increases fit within a broader trend of increased financial pressure on the insured," said Lindsey Spindle, a vice president of Avalere Health, a data analysis firm that produced the statistical study. "We see very large premium increases and a continued upward creep in how much out-of-pocket expenses beneficiaries are expected to pay, such as copayments."

The Medicare findings are bad news for President Barack Obama and his health care overhaul, bogged down in Congress. That's because the higher Medicare Advantage premiums for 2010 followed a cut in government payments to the private plans last year. And the Democratic bills pending in Congress call for even more cuts, expected to force many seniors to drop out of what has been a rapidly growing alternative to traditional Medicare.

Eric Hammelman, a senior Avalere data analyst, said that after the government cut payments to the plans last year, the insurers faced a choice. "They could raise premiums or lower benefits, and what most of them decided to do was raise premiums," he said.

Premiums Jump 14 Percent on Medicare Private Plans - ABC News

 

[uscitizen]

That privatization really works doesn't it?

 

[toomuchtime_]

That privatization really works doesn't it?

The Medicare Advantage plans, which provide seniors with more benefits at lower cost than traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurance, were working just fine until the Obama administration and the Dem Congress pressured them to either cut benefits to seniors or raise premiums by cutting payments to them.

 

[uscitizen]

That privatization really works doesn't it?

The Medicare Advantage plans, which provide seniors with more benefits at lower cost than traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurance, were working just fine until the Obama administration and the Dem Congress pressured them to either cut benefits to seniors or raise premiums by cutting payments to them.

some of them were working just fine.
Are you in the age where you have really researched Medicare Advantage plans?
I am.
some are a ripoff and a few are ok.

and they are sold to the elderly who are not as mentally sharp as they used to be. A kind of old age vultureism.

 

[toomuchtime_]

That privatization really works doesn't it?

The Medicare Advantage plans, which provide seniors with more benefits at lower cost than traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurance, were working just fine until the Obama administration and the Dem Congress pressured them to either cut benefits to seniors or raise premiums by cutting payments to them.

some of them were working just fine.
Are you in the age where you have really researched Medicare Advantage plans?
I am.
some are a ripoff and a few are ok.

and they are sold to the elderly who are not as mentally sharp as they used to be. A kind of old age vultureism.

For the most popular Medicare Advantage plans you trade in choice of providers for more benefits and lower cost than traditional Medicare plus Medigap insurance provides, much as most people who choose HMO's do. Among seniors, it is generally those with lower incomes who choose to trade choice for lower cost, so the Obama-Pelosi cuts to Medicare Advantage plans will mostly force the poorest Medicare beneficiaries to choose between paying more or losing benefits.

 

[uscitizen]

The Medicare Advantage plans, which provide seniors with more benefits at lower cost than traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplemental Insurance, were working just fine until the Obama administration and the Dem Congress pressured them to either cut benefits to seniors or raise premiums by cutting payments to them.

some of them were working just fine.
Are you in the age where you have really researched Medicare Advantage plans?
I am.
some are a ripoff and a few are ok.

and they are sold to the elderly who are not as mentally sharp as they used to be. A kind of old age vultureism.

For the most popular Medicare Advantage plans you trade in choice of providers for more benefits and lower cost than traditional Medicare plus Medigap insurance provides, much as most people who choose HMO's do. Among seniors, it is generally those with lower incomes who choose to trade choice for lower cost, so the Obama-Pelosi cuts to Medicare Advantage plans will mostly force the poorest Medicare beneficiaries to choose between paying more or losing benefits.

Humana's Advantage plan takes all your medicare money and wants another approx $150 pr month and gives you virtually what basic medicare gives you and restricts your DR/hosp choices.

 

[toomuchtime_]

some of them were working just fine.
Are you in the age where you have really researched Medicare Advantage plans?
I am.
some are a ripoff and a few are ok.

and they are sold to the elderly who are not as mentally sharp as they used to be. A kind of old age vultureism.

For the most popular Medicare Advantage plans you trade in choice of providers for more benefits and lower cost than traditional Medicare plus Medigap insurance provides, much as most people who choose HMO's do. Among seniors, it is generally those with lower incomes who choose to trade choice for lower cost, so the Obama-Pelosi cuts to Medicare Advantage plans will mostly force the poorest Medicare beneficiaries to choose between paying more or losing benefits.

Humana's Advantage plan takes all your medicare money and wants another approx $150 pr month and gives you virtually what basic medicare gives you and restricts your DR/hosp choices.

That's simply not true. Basic Medicare leaves you with a 20% copay on Part B services and an $1,100 annual deductible on Part A services plus sizable copays, hundreds of dollars, for each day in the hospital. This is why everyone who chooses traditional Medicare also buys Medigap insurance, which can cost from $1,000 to $3,000 per year depending on which Medigap insurance plan you choose and which state you live in. Of course, if you choose traditional Medicare, you will have to pay even more for Part D coverage, prescription drugs, which is included in every Medicare Advantage plan I've seen.

So for your post to make sense, you'd have to specify which Humana Advantage plan you are referring in which state and what the cost of Medigap insurance and prescription drug coverage is in that state before the costs and benefits of these two options can be compared in a meaningful way.