Medicare Advantage: Better information tools, better beneficiary choices, better competition

Since the 1970s, and codified in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, Medicare beneficiaries have had the choice of receiving their Medicare benefits through private health plans instead of the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare program administered by the federal government...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2016
Main Authors: Bertko, John, Ginsburg, Paul B, Lieberman, Steven M, Trish, Erin, Antos, Joseph
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Government
Health care policy
The Brookings Institution
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Since the 1970s, and codified in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, Medicare beneficiaries have had the choice of receiving their Medicare benefits through private health plans instead of the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare program administered by the federal government. The policy thrust of private plan participation in Medicare is that competition can foster both better quality and lower costs. Today, 1 in 3 of the 57 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in private health plans, known as Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.12 Although growth in Medicare per capita spending has slowed in recent years, there is still a compelling need to improve quality and control costs as roughly 10,000 baby boomers a day age into Medicare coverage. As beneficiaries continue to choose MA plans, the potential payoff of increased plan competition on both quality and price grows as well. In "Medicare Advantage: Better information tools, better beneficiary choices, better competition" (PDF), John Bertko, Paul B. Ginsburg, Steven Lieberman, Erin Trish, and Joseph Antos make four recommendations to help empower beneficiaries to make choices that will not only benefit them but the larger health care system as well.