WASHINGTON – The AARP is expanding its relationship with UnitedHealthcare and creating a partnership with Aetna to offer AARP-branded HMO products to Medicare recipients.
While some in the industry welcome the addition, others are wary.
Although Pete Stark (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health, could not be reached for comment, he said in an April interview, “If they provide quality care at a fair price, they could be a wonderful addition.”
Judith Stein, director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, disagreed. “Unfortunately, I think Mr. Stark is misguided,” she said.
“Regardless of the quality of AARP’s private plan, it will not be best for beneficiaries or taxpayers,” she said. “The most secure, cost-effective way to provide health insurance for older people and people with disabilities has proven, time and again, to be through the traditional Medicare program, not private industry.”
The AARP is trying to create a new healthcare paradigm, said John Wider, its vice president of health products and services.
“AARP’s new insurance provider relationships with Aetna and UnitedHealthcare are a first for the health insurance industry because AARP has used the power of its 38 million members to link insurers’ revenues with their ability to improve people’s health,” he said. “These efforts benefit not only our members, but will improve the marketplace overall.”
Wider said the AARP’s Medicare Advantage plan offered through UnitedHealthcare provides a two-year commitment, which is longer than that required by law, for greater stability in coverage.
Aetna’s AARP-branded product will be offered to members who are 50 to 64 years old, which Wider said is an age group where insurance is often unavailable or unaffordable.
AARP plans to tie carrier compensation to the health of its members and other measures. “This is patient-centered healthcare come to life,” Wider said.
“The coverage they plan to provide for people ages 50 to 65 could be advantageous, depending on its terms,” Stein admitted. “But there is also a concern that those who go into that plan will simply stay and enter the new Medicare plan when they turn 65.”
People’s needs may change, Stein said, and they need to think carefully about their options.
The UnitedHealthcare and Aetna agreements begin January 1, 2008, with Aetna’s plan potentially beginning sooner.