New York City municipal retirees got a reprieve last week from being forced by Mayor Eric Adams into a commercial insurance company’s Medicare replacement plan, thanks to a judicial decision that could also save American taxpayers billions of dollars in coming years.
Because of your exposure of the problems with Medicare Advantage, along with work by Lever News and others, I have switched back to traditional Medicare as of 2023. Fortunately, I haven't needed much medical care so I haven't had to deal with the MA problems, but who knows what the future holds.
Can we please get universal healthcare already? Dick Gottfried introduced it to NYS in 1992! And we've had an all democratic government for years now. And we STILL can't get it done. I don't get why the unions don't understand that they would be better off.
It's certainly true that the Medicare Advantage system is costly to CMS and by extension to taxpayers.
It's also true that group Medicare Advantage plans such as the one NYC is considering save local taxpayers significant amounts of money and lessen the need for cost shifting attacks on retired public employees.
So the Court ruling is not an unmixed blessing. Contracts for group Medicare Advantage plans can be structured to prevent many of the abuses of individual Medicare Advantage plans such as guaranteed issue, limited networks, and low medical loss ratios.
While it's important to point out the potential for both health issues such as through aggressive prior authorization and the fraud and profiteering inherent in the Medicare Advantage model, it's just not realistic to expect group plans or individuals to altruistically abandon the financial savings that come from Medicare Advantage plans.
The emphasis needs to be on expanding Medicare benefits and reducing out of pocket payments to eliminate the primary reason many folks join MA plans.
In the meantime development of more effective MA regulations and enhanced enforcement is necessary.
Because of your exposure of the problems with Medicare Advantage, along with work by Lever News and others, I have switched back to traditional Medicare as of 2023. Fortunately, I haven't needed much medical care so I haven't had to deal with the MA problems, but who knows what the future holds.
Keep up the good work.
Stay safe.
Thanks for spreading the word about our cause!
Bob Cowen
retired NYC employee.
Can we please get universal healthcare already? Dick Gottfried introduced it to NYS in 1992! And we've had an all democratic government for years now. And we STILL can't get it done. I don't get why the unions don't understand that they would be better off.
It's certainly true that the Medicare Advantage system is costly to CMS and by extension to taxpayers.
It's also true that group Medicare Advantage plans such as the one NYC is considering save local taxpayers significant amounts of money and lessen the need for cost shifting attacks on retired public employees.
So the Court ruling is not an unmixed blessing. Contracts for group Medicare Advantage plans can be structured to prevent many of the abuses of individual Medicare Advantage plans such as guaranteed issue, limited networks, and low medical loss ratios.
While it's important to point out the potential for both health issues such as through aggressive prior authorization and the fraud and profiteering inherent in the Medicare Advantage model, it's just not realistic to expect group plans or individuals to altruistically abandon the financial savings that come from Medicare Advantage plans.
The emphasis needs to be on expanding Medicare benefits and reducing out of pocket payments to eliminate the primary reason many folks join MA plans.
In the meantime development of more effective MA regulations and enhanced enforcement is necessary.