Minority and low-income Medicare beneficiaries are relying on Medicare Advantage Plans and MediGap for healthcare coverage, new studies by America's Health Insurance Plans have found.
According to the reports, which looked at 2004 data collected in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, low-income and minority beneficiaries choose Medicare Advantage plans and MediGap for their low out-of-pocket costs and range of benefits.
Beneficiaries also tend to choose Medicare Advantage plans if their employers pay their premiums or if their physician is a member provider. For beneficiaries with incomes of $10,000 to $20,000, Medicare Advantage plans provided the largest single source of comprehensive coverage in areas with at least one Medicare Advantage plan, the report noted.
"In terms of (Medicare Advantage) enrollment numbers, in 2004 there were approximately 5 million enrollees. Now we have over 8 million," said Karen Ignagni, president of AHIP, during a press conference on Thursday. "In the MediGap arena, it's remained between 11 million and 12 million from 2004 to 2007."
Congress should note the added value that Medicare Advantage plans provide for these millions of beneficiaries, especially those who are low-income and minorities, the report said.
"We are ready to educate members of Congress about what happened, why it happened, and the value for their individual constituents," Ignagni said. "I think the proof of whether this program is working is in the data that beneficiaries see."
Ignagni stressed that estimates of beneficiaries' costs and number of benefits have been revised to reflect that they are spending less and seeing more rewards than originally expected.
Leslie V. Norwalk, CMS acting administrator, recently testified before the Senate Finance Committee about the performance of new Medicare plans. According to Ignagni, Norwalk's comments were in line with the data in the AHIP reports.
Ignagni added that Norwalk's testimony was based on 2005 data, which may indicate that the popularity of the plans has grown from 2004 to 2007. "We're hearing that you're going to see a great deal of growth, but I can't say that we have hard data on that," Ignagni said.