What is Medicare Part D?
Medicare Part D is a federal program created with the promise that it would help lower the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries in the United States. It was enacted as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) and went into effect on January 1, 2006. Read More...
The cost to the Medicare program and the American taxpayer is huge (estimated to be about $800 billion over the next ten years), yet the benefit is very poor for most beneficiaries. Enrollees are burdened with as much as $4,050 in out of pocket expenses (2008) in addition to monthly premiums, before catastrophic coverage kicks in. Furthermore, the benefit deteriorates year-after-year as the deductibles, co-pays, and coverage gap (donut hole) increase at about double the rate of inflation. Read more...
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Medicare Advantage Plans: Whose Advantage?
Since its creation in 1965, Medicare has been a lifesaver for millions of seniors and people with disabilities. And it has improved the lives of millions more.
In 2003, Congress passed legislation to begin a Medicare death spiral. Under Medicare Part C, insurance companies get bonuses to sell so-called “Advantage” plans. These plans promise to hold down costs while providing extra benefits. The reality is often the opposite. Advantage plans funnel billions of Medicare dollars to insurance companies to “cherry pick” those they want to lure from traditional Medicare. The result will be that Medicare retains only its highest risk, most costly, participants.
The government also pays insurance companies an average of 12% more for each new customer sold a private plan outside of original Medicare than it spends on traditional Medicare beneficiaries. In some states, the average overpayment is as high as 41%.
The extra dollars encourage confusion, misrepresentation, and fraud. It also drains the already threatened Medicare trust fund and raises premiums for those who choose to remain in original Medicare.
The winners are the insurance companies who get billions in government handouts to rip off seniors and dismantle Medicare.
United Senior Action says this must stop!
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