Congressmen Marc Pocan and Ro Khanna introduced the Save Medicare Act last week. If passed, the bill would change the name of private health insurance plans offering Medicare benefits from “Medicare Advantage” to “alternative private health plans.” Since Medicare Advantage operates very differently than Traditional Medicare and has some disadvantages over Traditional Medicare, ending use of the Medicare Advantage name would help minimize confusion among people with Medicare about their health plan options.
Since 2003, when “Medicare Advantage” came into being, insurers have been selling health plans to older adults and people with disabilities without their full understanding that they were enrolling in a corporate health plan and giving up Traditional Medicare. Many people are misled into enrolling, believing that the government is directly administering their benefits, or that they will continue to be covered for care from their treating physicians, or that “additional benefits” that Medicare Advantage plans market come free of high out-of-pocket costs. And, they rarely realize that if they opt for Medicare Advantage, they are often unable to switch to traditional Medicare because supplemental coverage is unavailable to them.
Kanna and Pocan’s bill would require insurers to call the health plans they offer people with Medicare “alternative private health plans.” Private plans offering Medicare benefits would be forbidden from using the name “Medicare” and would be subject to a penalty of $100,000 for using it.
“Only Medicare is Medicare. It is one of the most popular and important services the government provides,” Pocan said. “We should be working to expand this service to include coverage for dental, vision, and hearing care, as well as looking at ways to strengthen it rather than allowing these ‘Medicare Advantage’ programs to provide pale alternatives to what Medicare does.”
“These non-Medicare plans run by private insurers undermine traditional Medicare,” Pocan continued. “They often leave patients without the benefits they need while overcharging the federal government for corporate profit.” These private plans deliver very different coverage from Traditional Medicare, with prior authorization requirements, high rates of inappropriate delays and denials of care and restricted provider networks, which can jeopardize people’s health.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Senate Finance Chair looks into deceptive Medicare Advantage marketing practices
- Medicare Advantage: Tune out the Joe Namath ads
- Four things to think about when choosing between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
- Ten ways to improve Medicare Advantage
- How prior authorization requirements in Medicare Advantage could threaten your health