WASHINGTON — A House health subcommittee heard conflicting testimony Wednesday as to what Medicare Advantage beneficiaries can expect under the Affordable Care Act.
Medicare Advantage plans are hybrids offered by private companies that partner with Medicare to provide benefits for both part A – hospital costs – and Part B – doctors’ office visits.
Jon Kaplan, senior partner and managing director at Boston Consulting group, said a study by his company “found that patients enrolled in the Medicare Advantage …plan had better health habits then those participating in traditional Medicare.”
Kaplan said,”Medicare Advantage patients in our sample received higher levels of recommended preventative care and had fewer decease-specific complications.”
Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, fielding a question from Energy and Commerce subcommittee chairman Joe Pitts, R-Pa., said his research indicates Medicare Advantage beneficiaries will be hit hard by the Affordable Care Act
“Indeed I am concerned about the future of Medicare Advantage,” Holtz-Eakin testified. “The work we’ve done on the implications of ACA cuts, for example in Pennsylvania, would suggest that in 2014 there’d be an average loss of benefits per beneficiary of about $2,200. This is about a 19 percent reductions in those benefits.”
An outspoken critic of Obamacare, Holtz-Eakin said he was troubled over whether Medicare advantage under the Affordable Care Act “will remain a viable option within the Medicare program and deliver the comprehensive benefits.”
But Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, disagreed and highlighted what he sees as the positive impact the Affordable Care Act has had on Medicare.
“I think… that consumers are better protected in Medicare Advantage,” Baker said. The Affordable Care Act, he said, has equalized cost sharing ”so that sicker beneficiaries aren’t discriminated against.”
Panelist Dr. Bob Margolis, CEO and co-chairman of DaVita Healthcare partners, placed the responsibility for maintaining the Medicare Advantage program on the shoulders of legislators.
In his written statement to the subcommittee, Margolis asked that, “Congress refrain from making further blunt cuts to the MA program, which is the best currently-operating alternative to the flawed fee for service program.”
Margolis, said “potential cuts that are coming down pose a threat to Medicare Advantage.”