FACT CHECK: Previous Medicare Advantage cuts caused seniors to lose their coverage
Posted by The Campaign on March 08, 2010 at 1:59 PM
FACT CHECK: Previous Medicare Advantage cuts caused seniors to lose their coverage
- According to CMS, enrollment in Medicare Advantage (then known as Medicare+Choice) experienced multi-year declines following enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
- Between December 2001 and December 2002, Medicare Advantage enrollment declined by more than 900,000.
- From 1999 to 2003, nearly 2.4 million Medicare beneficiaries were impacted by plan withdrawals and service reductions. (Source: CMS Medicare Managed Care Geographic Service Area Reports)
What Happened Last Time: Following the Medicare Advantage cuts in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, millions of seniors across the country saw higher premiums, a reduction in benefits, and loss of coverage:
- Medicare Cuts Threaten Florida HMOs (Orlando Sentinel, 1/31/1999)
"Now the Clinton administration is warning health-care providers that the president's proposed budget for fiscal 2000, due Monday, may call for even deeper cuts to Medicare...HMOs could also feel the pinch...If further cuts are made, more elderly and disabled people could lose their managed-care plans."
- Plunging HMO drug benefits leave Medicare patients in a pinch (The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/27/2002)
"Beginning this year, however, HMOs placed a far heavier financial burden for drugs and other medical services on patients...The situation stems from limits imposed by federal legislation in 1997 that kept Medicare health plans from receiving health-cost reimbursement increases above 2 percent a year, despite soaring health care costs."
- Two More HMOs to Drop Medicare Patients in Louisiana (Times-Picayune, 7/16/1999)
"It is the second consecutive year that thousands of Medicare recipients have been displaced nationwide...after Congress voted to reduce reimbursements. Industry officials say more shakeouts are in the offing with another round of cuts on the horizon.
This year, Louisiana ranks behind only New York in the number of Medicare beneficiaries who will be forced to look elsewhere for the generous drug coverage and preventive health benefits of government-sponsored managed-care insurance."
- More Health Plans Quit Medicare; 711,000 Elderly, Disabled to Lose Broad HMO Coverage (The Washington Post, 6/30/2000)
- BCBS follows trend, drops area Medicare HMO (Jacksonville Business Journal, 9/13/2002)
"Even federal officials admit the program is underfunded. The Medicare Plus Choice program is in ‘bad shape,' said Thomas Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."
- Dozens of HMOs Quit Medicare, Patients Face Upheaval (Washington Post, 10/4/1998)
- Seniors in California's Central Valley See Medicare HMO Options Reduced (The Fresno Bee, 3/20/2002)
- Elderly will be forced to change health plans as HMOs plan to withdraw from Medicare (The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/29/2000)
- Medicare HMO Bills Will Grow: Premiums, Higher Fees Should Start by Jan. 1 (Orlando Sentinel, 11/5/1999)
"Since the cuts, health insurers have bailed out of the Medicare HMO business at alarming rates...The Medicare cuts are being felt most in states such as Florida with large numbers of retirees."
- Many H.M.O.'s For the Elderly Cut or Abolish Drug Coverage (The New York Times, 1/25/2002)
- HMO Cuts Coverage of 11,000 Seniors (The Boston Globe, 7/6/2000)
- California-Based HMO to Drop Medicare Coverage in Three Arizona Counties (The Arizona Republic, 6/30/2000)
