Experts say adding dental coverage to Medicare won’t trigger major shift away from Medicare Advantage

Fierce Health Payers September 7, 2021
Robert King

One of the most common benefits Medicare Advantage offers could go away if Democrats succeed in adding dental coverage to traditional Medicare, but experts say the impact on enrollment could be negligible due to the variety of other MA benefits.

Nevertheless, the insurance industry is still worried about how exactly the benefit change would affect MA payments.

Congressional Democrats are hoping to add dental, vision and hearing benefits to traditional Medicare as part of a $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. Dental coverage is a popular benefit offered by MA plans, as recent data show that 94% of MA enrollees are in plans with access to dental coverage.

A recent analysis from Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 47% (23.6 million) of all...

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