Savings at Seniors' Expense or Crucial Cost-Cutting?

If our seniors are worse off after reform than they are now, then we've failed. The health care overhaul must not inadvertently hurt those we're trying to help the most, among them retired Americans on fixed incomes who are particularly vulnerable to cost increases.

Cuts to Medicare Advantage are an area that seniors may feel jittery about. It's supplemental insurance that Medicare recipients can purchase to augment their coverage. The administration's claim that everyone gets to keep their doctor certainly wouldn't apply to all the Medicare Advantage subscribers who would lose coverage and providers if the cut goes through.

On the other hand, Medicare Advantage is privately run and has been seen by many in the reform conversation as a give-away to private insurers. According to their view, a trim to Medicare Advantage, an elective and supplemental insurance vehicle presumably favored by those seniors who can afford a little extra, will create $113 billion in savings that can be passed along to Americans throughout the health care spectrum.

We certainly don't want a system that overpays insurers without improving efficiency. At the same time, we need to make sure that important protections are included that limit cost sharing for certain Medicare Advantage services, like chemotherapy. To be fair, Sen. Max Baucus is working to refine this component to be less burdensome to seniors. No piece of legislation is perfect on arrival (or passage, for that matter) and my hat's off to him for trying to create solutions.

By Doug Ulman  |  October 1, 2009; 6:03 PM ET  | Category:  Health Care Reform , Health costs , Insurance , Medicare
Share This: Technorati | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
Previous: If You Like Your Coverage, You Can't Keep It | Next: Leveraging Health