Tag: Competitive Bidding

Can hospice function under Medicare premium support?

This post (wonky and long) follows up on my previous one on private insurance options in Medicare. We health policy types have been wonking it out about premium support in Medicare given the selection of Rep. Ryan as Gov. Romney’s running mate. Austin asked via twitter:

The short version is that hospice should be able to work under a private insurance option in Medicare that preserves the option of Seniors remaining in traditional Medicare, though there is a policy oddity regarding hospice and the current Medicare Advantage (MA) program that would have to be changed. Further, there are also some less obvious ways in which our lack of a straightforward long term care financing system will complicate hospice policy for the elderly going forward, especially if you coupled premium support with a block granting of Medicaid that was designed to reduce federal expenditures. This post is an overview, and I will revisit some of these topics in more detail.

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Updating private insurance options in Medicare

Reihan Salam has a nice post looking more closely at the cost of the current Medicare Advantage program and describing how premium support with competitive bidding in Medicare could work better to lower costs. He quotes Ezra Klein as saying competition hasn’t worked well to hold down costs in Medicare, and Reihan rightly points out that the way in which Medicare Advantage plans are paid by Medicare muddles this story. I would restate what Ezra said as private insurance options in Medicare have not worked well to hold down costs in Medicare. And it has everything to do with how Medicare Advantage plans are paid by Medicare.

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