Document Type
Report
Publication Date
9-5-2008
Journal
Issue Brief (Commonwealth Fund)
Volume
Volume 43
Inclusive Pages
1-15
Keywords
Government Funding; Medicare
Abstract
The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 explicitly increased Medicare payments to private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. As a result, every MA plan in the nation is paid more for its enrollees than they would have been expected to cost in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. The authors calculate that payments to MA plans in 2008 will be 12.4 percent greater than the corresponding costs in traditional Medicare—an average increase of $986 per MA plan enrollee, for a total of more than $8.5 billion. Over the five-year period 2004–2008, extra payments to MA plans are estimated to have totaled nearly $33 billion. Although Congress recently enacted modest reductions in MA plan payments, these changes will not take effect until 2010. Moreover, while the new legislation removes a few factors contributing to the extra payments, a number of other factors remain unaffected.
APA Citation
Biles, B., Adrion, E., & Guterman, S. (2008). The continuing cost of privatization: Extra payments to Medicare Advantage plans in 2008. Issue Brief (Commonwealth Fund), 43, 1-15.
Peer Reviewed
1
Open Access
1
Comments
Also available at: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2008/Sep/The-Continuing-Cost-of-Privatization--Extra-Payments-to-Medicare-Advantage.aspx.