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GOVERNMENT & MEDICINE

Medicare health plan pay headed up

Quick View. May 19, 2008.

Medicare officials are projecting what the program will pay next year, and Medicare Advantage plans are coming out on top while physicians face deep cuts.


Participant Estimated 2009
payment change
Medicare Advantage plans 3.6%
Long-term-care hospitals 2.6%
Inpatient hospitals 2.1%
Physicians -15.0%

But Congress' Medicare advisers say that, while increasingly popular, Medicare Advantage doesn't get as much bang for the buck as traditional Medicare. Private plans argue that they provide extra benefits. Critics want to save money by equalizing average per-capita health plan payments with average per-capita spending in fee-for-service Medicare.


Payment above fee-for-service spending November 2007 enrollment Change from November 2006
All Medicare Advantage plans 13% 8.9 million 18%
Coordinated care plans 13% 7.2 million 8%
Private fee-for-service plans 17% 1.7 million 101%

Note: Estimated 2009 payment change for physicians includes 10.6% reduction on July 1.

Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

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Copyright 2008 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

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