Today's news includes, per Reuters and WSJ, that United Healthcare may be under criminal investigation relative to Medicare Advantage programs.
There's also a important and informative article by Cornell authors about Medicare Advantage and how it "traps" patients who can't return to fee for service Medicare. Find it here (subscription).
Basically, each you a patient is free to flip-flop between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Over half of patients are in Medicare Advantage, which may offer discounts, dental care, and other advantages. However, Medicare Advantage may subject you to unexpected denials, prior authorization hassles, narrow networks (even nearly-unavailable services).
Over on the fee for service side, for a premium of about $200 a month, you get Part A and Part B, and for another circa $200 a moth, you get Medigap, which covers nearly all copays (so your out of pocket may approach $0.)
The problem is that once you are in Medicare Advantage, you can switch back to FFS Part B, but you probably can't get a MediGap plan, without which, the 20% copays can risk being highly onerous.
And, you may find if you are trapped in Medicare Advantage, narrow networks or copays or denials might worsen over time.
The Casalino et al. article runs through a range of pro's and con's and in's and out's of the system as it exists.
