Medicare Advantage Plans are not All the Same

There's a lot of pressure on Medicare Advantage plans.

Lots of people see a substantial amount of subsidization for these plans.

In fact, a bunch of these MA plans were instructed to halt all marketing activities last year, based on the finding that the costs of those plans was significantly higher.

It's worth looking closer here.

The Medicare Advantage FFS plans are actually the plans with the higher costs, as they really aren't managed tightly.  The MA plans that have been managed via risk-sharing (capitated) arrangements have demonstrated approximately 19% lower costs.

These plans are not all the same, and legislative approaches must recognize this fact.  

MA plans are not all the same, and it would be a shame for the plans that have risk-sharing contracts to be lumped in with the PPO plans.  The risk arrangements produce better outcomes at lower costs precisely because the primary care physicians are taking the risk, and are thus rewarded/penalized for their ability to truly coordinate care.

Don't kill this.