Several years ago, Congress passed $200 billion in cuts to the Medicare Advantage program through the Affordable Care Act. But as these cuts and other changes go into effect, millions of America’s senior citizens are seeing disrupted coverage and unwanted changes to the Medicare Advantage plans they currently enjoy.
What’s perplexing is that the cuts come at a time when more Americans are choosing Medicare Advantage plans, come retirement.
Over 103,000 Arkansas seniors depend on Medicare Advantage for its affordability and access to common-sense health-care services. In Arkansas, one in every five eligible seniors is on a Medicare Advantage plan. Yet some in Washington still want to tax and cut the program.
Medicare Advantage programs provide seniors like me with quality, affordable coverage, personalized service and a broader scope of benefits beyond traditional Medicare such as hearing, vision and dental. Unlike the government’s conventional fee-for-service Medicare structure, Medicare Advantage-enrolled seniors can count on coverage at a fixed cost through defined co-pays and non-deductibles.
This eliminates the need for a supplemental policy that many seniors using Medicare must purchase to cover patient costs.
Unfortunately, the health-reform law took an ax to Medicare Advantage funding. Additionally, the law imposed a new health-insurance tax that begins this year. As a result, 14 million seniors across the U.S. may be at risk of losing this affordable Medicare option and being forced to enroll in a one-size-fits-all program.
Moreover, if regulators in Washington have their way and impose a new round of funding cuts for 2015, millions of retirees could be facing higher out-of-pocket costs, reduced benefits and a smaller network of providers.
Seniors are already concerned about increased co-pays and doctors accepting their coverage. An underfunded Medicare Advantage program will only increase that uncertainty and lead to fewer choices for beneficiaries like me.
In January, I was forced to switch Medicare Advantage plans as a result of changes that caused my previous provider to discontinue coverage in my area of Arkansas.
This cycle of disruptions seems likely to continue with federal funding reductions threatening to change Medicare Advantage as we know it.
Each year the federal agency known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sets payment rates for Medicare Advantage plans based on a number of factors. Arkansas seniors will be watching to see whether our state’s congressional delegation will stand up for us in Washington and ask the federal Medicare agency to stop the cuts to Medicare Advantage. CMS should maintain current payment levels to protect seniors from losing the benefits and choices they want to keep.
Only Congress can stop government bureaucrats from inflicting irreparable damage to a program that works for me and millions of satisfied Medicare Advantage seniors.
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Clarence Richmond is a Medicare Advantage enrollee who lives in Searcy.
Editorial, Pages 18 on 02/21/2014