Why Medicare advantage is bad

Medicare is better

This post provides an important, detailed takedown of the travesty known as Medicare Advantage. If you are in the US and watch what I call old people TV (syndicated classics and crime shows), you’ll be bombarded by Medicare Advantage come-ons at this time of year. The fact that Medicare Advantage is profitable enough to support close to blanket-level commercials should tell you that not enough of the premium dollars are going for health care.

Medicare Advantage is serving as a second-tier scheme for budget-stressed Social Security recipients, since many plans are nominally “no fee,” as in there is no deduction from Social Security payments, unlike for Medicare B (doctor coverage) and D (prescription coverage). But since there is no such thing as a free lunch, the lack of premiums is recouped via skimpier coverage.

But even worse, the health insurance industry hopes to increase the market share of Medicare Advantage and eventually displace traditional Medicare, and it has far too many supporters in Congress and the Administration.

How Medicare Advantage Plans Differ From Conventional Medicare

• They are owned and operated by for-profit, private insurance corporations;
• Unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans often refuse to pay for treatments and medications physicians prescribe;
• Unlike traditional Medicare, many physicians, other healthcare professionals, and hospitals will be off-limits to patients because Medicare Advantage companies create their own proprietary and often skimpy “networks” of healthcare providers;
• If patients go out of network, they could be on the hook for thousands of dollars out of their own pocket; and
• They likely will have to pay extra—often a lot extra—for some of those extra benefits.

Medicare Advantage is marketed heavily

Seniors face a torrent of Medicare Advantage advertising: an analysis by KFF found 9,500 daily TV ads during open enrollment in 2022. A recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund found that 30% of seniors received seven or more phone calls weekly from Medicare Advantage marketers during the most recent open enrollment (Oct. 15 to Dec. 7) for 2024 coverage.

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The marketing for these plans nearly always fails to mention how hard it is to return to traditional Medicare once you are in Medicare Advantage, and that the MA plans have closed provider networks and require prior authorization for medical procedures.

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The enormous profits generated by Medicare Advantage plans — costing the federal government as much as $140 billion annually in overpayments to private companies — explains what drives the aggressive and often unethical marketing practices, said David Lipschutz, an associate director at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. 

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“There are two big downsides of going out of traditional Medicare: They don't tell you that you give up the broad Medicare provider network, which has nearly every doctor. And should you need expensive medical care in Medicare Advantage, you will learn there are prior authorization requirements. Traditional Medicare does almost no prior authorization, so you don't have that obstacle.“

Blogging- myths

Why write a blog?

here are the myths:

• myth: you need to be original
• myth: you need to be an expert
• myth: posts need to be 100% correct
• myth: writing boring posts is bad
• myth: you need to explain every concept
• myth: page views matter
• myth: more material is always better
• myth: everyone should blog

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Blogging isn’t for everyone. Tons of amazing developers don’t have blogs or personal websites at all. I write because it’s fun for me and it helps me organize my thoughts.