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New Study Finds that Medicare Advantage Relieves the “Hidden Tax” On Privately Insured Americans
Press Release
12.16.2009
For Immediate Release:
December 16, 2009
Contact: PRI Press Office
Kelly Gorton at 415-955-6136
San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released its new report, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly: Protecting Seniors’ Choices and Taxpayers’ Wallets in the Federal Government’s Largest Entitlement Program, by Health Care Studies Director John R. Graham. The report examines the costs and benefits of Medicare Advantage, which allows consumers to get their benefits through private insurance plans. Under the Senate Health Care bill, the Medicare Advantage program, would be cut by about $118 billion.
“In a very narrow sense, Medicare Advantage plans cost more per beneficiary than traditional Medicare,” said Mr. Graham. Medicare Advantage increases the total costs of Medicare by about $12 billion a year, or about 2 percent. However, because traditional Medicare (a government monopoly) does not pay providers enough to cover their costs, they shift costs to the privately insured. This imposes a “hidden tax” on privately insured Americans that accounts for $49 billion a year: four times greater than the narrowly defined extra costs of Medicare Advantage. “Most Medicare Advantage plans relieve this hidden tax because they are more likely to pay providers enough to cover their costs. Thus the ‘extra’ payments to Medicare Advantage are actually a method of exposing the hidden tax and transferring the burden from the privately insured to the government’s general accounting – that is society at large,” said Mr. Graham.
“Congress and the Obama administration intend to cut Medicare Advantage payments, without improving incentives for patients or providers to consume health services prudently. This would simply increase the “hidden tax” on the privately insured. It would also throw millions of Medicare beneficiaries back into traditional Medicare fee-for service, where they will face increasingly difficult access to care, because high-quality providers are bailing out of traditional Medicare. The government should re-consider this proposed policy, which breaks Medicare’s promise that seniors will enjoy good access to medical services.” added Mr. Graham.
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About PRI
For 30 years, the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) has championed freedom, opportunity, and individual responsibility through free-market policy solutions. PRI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. For more information please visit our web site at http://www.pacificreseach.org
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