The current administration is all in for Medicare Advantage. It has a great track record in their eyes. Medicare Advantage works great for overpayments, over $40 Billion more paid for services than delivered in just four years, 2013 to 2016!
How does Medicare Advantage do it? Medicare Advantage plans plan on "additional diagnoses to justify receiving higher payments from the government." Reed Abelson, Insurers Milk Medicare by Padding Bills, NEW YORK TIMES, Friday the 13th of December, 2019, p. B3 (published online under the headline, Federal Watchdog Questions Billions of Dollars Paid to Private Medicare Plans; as you know, the New York Times may charge for online access). For every condition a Medicare patient presents, Medicare Advantage has very often input at least one more condition, whether or not the patient actually had it, says the Inspector General in a written report on Medicare Advantage.
In the eyes of the head of Medicare and Medicaid, Medicare Advantage is "what works in the Medicare program"! Id. She and her administration like Medicare Advantage so much that, because of the Medicare Advantage track record, last year in 2018 they paid $210 Billion to Medicare Advantage out of a total Medicare budget of $711 Billion. That's just shy of 30% of the whole taxpayer-funded pot of money!
And what a return on investment of money! Too bad there is not nearly as much return on medical care for seniors.
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