Health Care Blog November 12, 2024
Open enrollment season for Medicare, which began Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, triggers a deluge of information about various options. Since I’m a health care consultant and researcher as well as a Medicare beneficiary, I’ve looked critically at what we’re told and what we’re not. Unfortunately, information crucial both for the individual and for the broader policy goal of moving toward a “value-based” care system is often difficult to find or not available at all.
The most glaring example involves Medicare Advantage, the increasingly popular insurer-run plans that are an alternative to traditional fee-for-service Medicare. Plans receive a quality grade from one to five stars from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Those grades are designed to incentivize...