Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

[Penelope]

How Does Obamacare Affect Medicare Advantage Costs?
Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) made several changes to Medicare Advantage plans. Most of these changes had to do with the health insurance industry in general, including provisions for free preventive care. Obamacare has even started closing the Medicare donut hole.

But one of the major changes specific to Part C plans is that insurers are not allowed to charge plan members more than what Original Medicare would charge for certain services, such as chemotherapy. This would affect costs like your copay and/or coinsurance. It is not reported that Obamacare made any changes to how private insurers can determine premium rates.

Medicare Advantage Premiums: All You Need to Know

Get the facts on Medicare Advantage plans and what paying your Medicare Advantage premiums is all about with this helpful HealthMarkets guide.

www.healthmarkets.com

---------------------------
You can bet when the ACA is deleted the above will be deleted.

 

[Penelope]

How do Medicare Advantage Plans work?

Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called "Part C" or "MA Plans," are an “all in one” alternative to Original Medicare. They are offered by private companies approved by Medicare. If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you still have
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for:

• • 
    
  • People who are 65 or older
  • 
    
  • Certain younger people with disabilities
  • 
    
  • People with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD)

" class="inline hover" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(15, 15, 15); text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dotted; font-weight: normal; cursor: help !important;">Medicare. These "bundled" plans include Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance), and usually Medicare drug coverage (Part D).

Find Medicare Advantage Plans in your area.
Covered services in Medicare Advantage Plans
Most Medicare Advantage Plans offer coverage for things Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like some vision, hearing, dental, and fitness programs (like gym memberships or discounts). Plans can also choose to cover even more benefits. For example, some plans may offer coverage for services like transportation to doctor visits, over-the-counter drugs, and services that promote your health and wellness. Plans can also tailor their benefit packages to offer these benefits to certain chronically-ill enrollees. These packages will provide benefits customized to treat specific conditions. Check with the plan before you enroll to see what benefits it offers, if you might qualify, and if there are any limitations. Learn more about what Medicare Advantage Plans cover.
Rules for Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare pays a fixed amount for your care each month to the companies offering Medicare Advantage Plans. These companies must follow rules set by Medicare.
Each Medicare Advantage Plan can charge different out-of-pocket costs. They can also have different rules for how you get services, like:

• Whether you need a referral to see a specialist
• If you have to go to doctors, facilities, or suppliers that belong to the plan for non-emergency or non-urgent care

These rules can change each year.
Costs for Medicare Advantage Plans
What you pay in a Medicare Advantage Plan depends on several factors. In many cases, you’ll need to use doctors and other providers who are in the plan’s network and service area for the lowest costs. Some plans won’t cover services from providers outside the plan’s network and service area. Learn about these factors and how to get cost details.

How do Medicare Advantage Plans work? | Medicare

Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called "Part C" or "MA Plans," are offered by private companies approved by Medicare. If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you still have Medicare. The page includes information about covered services, rules, and costs for Medicare Advantage Plans. It also...

www.medicare.gov

Don't make things up.

UNDERSTANDING THE “MEDICARE PREMIUM BILL” FORM (CMS-500)
View attachment 404731

https://www.medicare.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/11659-understanding-cms-500.pdf

Its right from the medicare site.

 

[JustAGuy1]

How do Medicare Advantage Plans work?

Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called "Part C" or "MA Plans," are an “all in one” alternative to Original Medicare. They are offered by private companies approved by Medicare. If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you still have
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for:

• • 
    
  • People who are 65 or older
  • 
    
  • Certain younger people with disabilities
  • 
    
  • People with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD)

" class="inline hover" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(15, 15, 15); text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dotted; font-weight: normal; cursor: help !important;">Medicare. These "bundled" plans include Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance), and usually Medicare drug coverage (Part D).

Find Medicare Advantage Plans in your area.
Covered services in Medicare Advantage Plans
Most Medicare Advantage Plans offer coverage for things Original Medicare doesn’t cover, like some vision, hearing, dental, and fitness programs (like gym memberships or discounts). Plans can also choose to cover even more benefits. For example, some plans may offer coverage for services like transportation to doctor visits, over-the-counter drugs, and services that promote your health and wellness. Plans can also tailor their benefit packages to offer these benefits to certain chronically-ill enrollees. These packages will provide benefits customized to treat specific conditions. Check with the plan before you enroll to see what benefits it offers, if you might qualify, and if there are any limitations. Learn more about what Medicare Advantage Plans cover.
Rules for Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare pays a fixed amount for your care each month to the companies offering Medicare Advantage Plans. These companies must follow rules set by Medicare.
Each Medicare Advantage Plan can charge different out-of-pocket costs. They can also have different rules for how you get services, like:

• Whether you need a referral to see a specialist
• If you have to go to doctors, facilities, or suppliers that belong to the plan for non-emergency or non-urgent care

These rules can change each year.
Costs for Medicare Advantage Plans
What you pay in a Medicare Advantage Plan depends on several factors. In many cases, you’ll need to use doctors and other providers who are in the plan’s network and service area for the lowest costs. Some plans won’t cover services from providers outside the plan’s network and service area. Learn about these factors and how to get cost details.

How do Medicare Advantage Plans work? | Medicare

Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called "Part C" or "MA Plans," are offered by private companies approved by Medicare. If you join a Medicare Advantage Plan, you still have Medicare. The page includes information about covered services, rules, and costs for Medicare Advantage Plans. It also...

www.medicare.gov

Don't make things up.

UNDERSTANDING THE “MEDICARE PREMIUM BILL” FORM (CMS-500)
View attachment 404731

https://www.medicare.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/11659-understanding-cms-500.pdf

Its right from the medicare site.

I showed you the cms bill and the cms address to send it to. Your pretty cut and paste job doe NOT say that you part part B premiums to an insurance company.

 

[JustAGuy1]

Your confusion lies in the fact that MAPD does "replace" A & B, the Insurance Cpmoany pays for everything but the Feds still get the Prems for both A and B

 

[Grumblenuts]

Its right from the medicare site.

Seriously. Some people find excuses to argue with anything.

 

[JustAGuy1]

Its right from the medicare site.

Seriously. Some people find excuses to argue with anything.

She doesn't know what she's talking about, sorry.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Its right from the medicare site.

Seriously. Some people find excuses to argue with anything.

She doesn't know what she's talking about, sorry.

That's no excuse, sorry.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Being on Medicare is not what its cracked up to be.

I thought Medicare For All was the end all be all.

 

[JustAGuy1]

Its right from the medicare site.

Seriously. Some people find excuses to argue with anything.

She doesn't know what she's talking about, sorry.

That's no excuse, sorry.

LOL, of course it is. She pretends to know everything and she doesn't. The fact you look down on the exchange is your problem not mine. She stops lyin I dtop holding her feet to the fire. It really is just that simple.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Being on Medicare is not what its cracked up to be.

I thought Medicare For All was the end all be all.

Apples to Oranges.

Everybody In

We need a single-payer, national health care system which guarantees care for all regardless of their ability to pay. Expanded and improved Medicare for all means everybody in, nobody out.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Being on Medicare is not what its cracked up to be.

I thought Medicare For All was the end all be all.

I think Medicare for All will be different.

Oh, it will be different, alright. It would be the biggest clusterfuck of a bureaucracy on planet Earth trying to manage the health care of 320 million people, five times as many as now. Good luck with that.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Everybody In

We need a single-payer, national health care system which guarantees care for all regardless of their ability to pay. Expanded and improved Medicare for all means everybody in, nobody out.

Oh, well, if they say so it must be true.

 

[JustAGuy1]

Truth is what it's always been. There are no guarantees in life other than death and taxes.

Original Medicare by itself can leave you devastated financially.

And you could be squished by a wayward asteroid somewhere within the next three seconds. Point is to have a point to begin with. Medicare A&B long provided very well for the vast majority of elderly. That's why the billionaires just had to go and fuck with it. Now it's all screwed up but beats pointlessly ceding even more control over elder care to the private sector. Medicare For All or bust.

Try dealing with the topic she and I are discussing. If she continues with the lies I'll keep correcting her. So here it is IF you want to chime in.
Medicare Part B premiums are paid to Medicare, not insurance ccompanie. As to your point Original Medicare meaning Parts A&B alone will devestate you financially.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Try dealing with the topic she and I are discussing. If she continues with the lies I'll keep correcting her. So here it is IF you want to chime in.
Medicare Part B premiums are paid to Medicare, not insurance ccompanie. As to your point Original Medicare meaning Parts A&B alone will devestate you financially.

Try honest debate. If, as you allege, she "lies," then you should directly address a quote of her actually doing so. Also, my point was obviously not "Original Medicare meaning Parts A&B alone will devestate you financially."

 

[JustAGuy1]

Try dealing with the topic she and I are discussing. If she continues with the lies I'll keep correcting her. So here it is IF you want to chime in.
Medicare Part B premiums are paid to Medicare, not insurance ccompanie. As to your point Original Medicare meaning Parts A&B alone will devestate you financially.

Try honest debate. If, as you allege, she "lies," then you should directly address a quote of her actually doing so. Also, my point was obviously not "Original Medicare meaning Parts A&B alone will devestate you financially."

I already addressed what she said, if you truly want to see follow the conversation back to it. Otherwise son, you're dismissed

 

[healthmyths]

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

“Although Mom saw her MA premiums increase significantly over the years, she didn’t have any real motivation to disenroll until after she broke her hip and required skilled care in a nursing facility. After a few days, the nursing home administrator told her that if she stayed there, she would have to pay for everything out of her own pocket. Why? Because a utilization review nurse at her MA plan, who had never seen or examined her, decided that the care she was receiving was no longer ‘medically necessary.’ Because there are no commonly used criteria as to what constitutes medical necessity, insurers have wide discretion in determining what they will pay for and when they will stop paying for services like skilled nursing care by decreeing it ‘custodial.’”

Snip

here are some details of in-network services from a popular Humana Medicare Advantage Plan in Florida:

• Ambulance—$300
• Hospital stay—$175 per day for the first 10 days
• Diabetes supplies—up to 20% copay
• Diagnostic radiology—up to $125 copay
• Lab Services—up to $100 copay
• Outpatient x-rays—up to $100 copay
• Therapeutic radiology—$35 or up to 20% copay depending on the service
• Renal dialysis—20% of the cost

Medicare Advantage Plans as a physician. Here's how he describes them:

• Care can actually end up costing more, to the patient and the federal budget, than it would under original Medicare, particularly if one suffers from a very serious medical problem.
• Some private plans are not financially stable and may suddenly cease coverage. This happened in Florida in 2014 when a popular MA plan called Physicians United Plan was declared insolvent, and doctors canceled appointments.11
• One may have difficulty getting emergency or urgent care due to rationing.
• The plans only cover certain doctors, and often drop providers without cause, breaking the continuity of care.
• Members have to follow plan rules to get covered care.
• There are always restrictions when choosing doctors, hospitals, and other providers, which is another form of rationing that keeps profits up for the insurance company but limits patient choice.
• It can be difficult to get care away from home.
• The extra benefits offered can turn out to be less than promised.
• Plans that include coverage for Part D prescription drug costs may ration certain high-cost medications.

Snip

Switching Back to Original Medicare

While you can save money with a Medicare Advantage Plan when you are healthy, if you get sick in the middle of the year, you are stuck with whatever costs you incur until you can switch plans during the next open season for Medicare.3 At that time, you can switch to an Original Medicare plan with Medigap. If you do, keep in mind that Medigap can may charge you a higher rate than if you had enrolled in a Medigap policy when you first qualified for Medicare.8

Most Medigap policies are issue-age rated policies or attained-age rated policies. This means that when you sign up later in life, you will pay more per month than if you had started with the Medigap policy at age 65. You may be able to find a policy that has no age rating, but those are rare.

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

A Medicare Advantage plan may help you lower non-covered health costs, but there are definite tradeoffs compared to classic Medicare/Medigap.

www.investopedia.com

-----------------------------------------------------
Just for your information.

Of the 824 MA plans, there are 506 for profit plans.
Now almost ALL of these "for profit" plans are paying federal corporate income taxes which you and anti-capitalists seem to forget.
These federal taxes go to subsidize Medicare which will according to the TRUSTEES of Medicare, Medicare will go broke in
MA Plan Directory | CMS

Those “going broke” headlines are all about Part A Hospital insurance (HI), which accounted for about 40 percent of the program’s $710 billion in spending in 2017. HI mostly is funded by the Medicare tax that is withheld from worker paychecks and paid by the self-employed. And that tax—as well as other smaller sources of revenue-- is not sufficient to pay the bills. It hasn’t been for years.

Medicare Parts B and D are funded very differently, and are at no risk of “going broke.” Unlike Part A, there is no dedicated tax for these programs. Rather, they are funded through a combination of enrollee premiums (which support only about one-quarter of their costs) and general revenues—another way of saying the government borrows most of the money it needs to pay for Medicare.

No, Medicare Won't Go Broke In 2026. Yes, It Will Cost A Lot More Money

Medicare is not going broke in 2026. What the Trustees Report really says, and what it means to you.

www.forbes.com

Another factor FAVORING MAs is some especially in competitive states like Florida which I know as I lived there under my MA plan in Fl for
over 5 years PAY my Part B social security DEDUCTION. What this means is traditional non-MA Medicare requires that the Part B Medicare payment for 2021 of $148.50 per month is deducted from my SS check...ever month...$1,776 in 2021 to be deducted.
Medicare Rate Increases for 2021 | Medicare Cost Projections

MY MA plan in Florida PAID that Part B deduction so my SS check was larger than the traditional Medicare beneficiary.
Do you understand why? Called competition! With 62 distinct plans, Fl is extremely competitive. Hence MAs have to offer more incentives.
To me that additional $1,776 is a great incentive!
So in summary, Medicare CHARGES your SS for Part B... Some MAs in Florida Pay that monthly charge...mine did!
Over 60% of MAs must pay state/federal income taxes...thus reducing the taxes you might have to pay!
Finally, an advantage that traditional Medicare doesn't offer that my MA offered... OTC supplies... Over the counter... toothpaste, headache tablets, vitamins, blood pressure monitor, other equipment in Fl my MA had $50/month I could order! Another $600 I didn't have to spend on
OTC stuff. So just between the SS payment of $1,776/year and the $600/year in OTC... I SAVED nearly $2,300.
Savings using MA.. $2,300, tax revenue paid local/state/federal incalculable. Oh and one more thing. I got a Samsung tablet with which daily I check my blood pressure, blood glucose readings and report to my MA for their monitoring. The other day I had a much lower diastolic reading and I get a call from the monitoring group AND my cardiologist who was called with this abnormal reading.
Medicare doesn't offer that!

 

[Penelope]

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

“Although Mom saw her MA premiums increase significantly over the years, she didn’t have any real motivation to disenroll until after she broke her hip and required skilled care in a nursing facility. After a few days, the nursing home administrator told her that if she stayed there, she would have to pay for everything out of her own pocket. Why? Because a utilization review nurse at her MA plan, who had never seen or examined her, decided that the care she was receiving was no longer ‘medically necessary.’ Because there are no commonly used criteria as to what constitutes medical necessity, insurers have wide discretion in determining what they will pay for and when they will stop paying for services like skilled nursing care by decreeing it ‘custodial.’”

Snip

here are some details of in-network services from a popular Humana Medicare Advantage Plan in Florida:

• Ambulance—$300
• Hospital stay—$175 per day for the first 10 days
• Diabetes supplies—up to 20% copay
• Diagnostic radiology—up to $125 copay
• Lab Services—up to $100 copay
• Outpatient x-rays—up to $100 copay
• Therapeutic radiology—$35 or up to 20% copay depending on the service
• Renal dialysis—20% of the cost

Medicare Advantage Plans as a physician. Here's how he describes them:

• Care can actually end up costing more, to the patient and the federal budget, than it would under original Medicare, particularly if one suffers from a very serious medical problem.
• Some private plans are not financially stable and may suddenly cease coverage. This happened in Florida in 2014 when a popular MA plan called Physicians United Plan was declared insolvent, and doctors canceled appointments.11
• One may have difficulty getting emergency or urgent care due to rationing.
• The plans only cover certain doctors, and often drop providers without cause, breaking the continuity of care.
• Members have to follow plan rules to get covered care.
• There are always restrictions when choosing doctors, hospitals, and other providers, which is another form of rationing that keeps profits up for the insurance company but limits patient choice.
• It can be difficult to get care away from home.
• The extra benefits offered can turn out to be less than promised.
• Plans that include coverage for Part D prescription drug costs may ration certain high-cost medications.

Snip

Switching Back to Original Medicare

While you can save money with a Medicare Advantage Plan when you are healthy, if you get sick in the middle of the year, you are stuck with whatever costs you incur until you can switch plans during the next open season for Medicare.3 At that time, you can switch to an Original Medicare plan with Medigap. If you do, keep in mind that Medigap can may charge you a higher rate than if you had enrolled in a Medigap policy when you first qualified for Medicare.8

Most Medigap policies are issue-age rated policies or attained-age rated policies. This means that when you sign up later in life, you will pay more per month than if you had started with the Medigap policy at age 65. You may be able to find a policy that has no age rating, but those are rare.

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

A Medicare Advantage plan may help you lower non-covered health costs, but there are definite tradeoffs compared to classic Medicare/Medigap.

www.investopedia.com

-----------------------------------------------------
Just for your information.

Of the 824 MA plans, there are 506 for profit plans.
Now almost ALL of these "for profit" plans are paying federal corporate income taxes which you and anti-capitalists seem to forget.
These federal taxes go to subsidize Medicare which will according to the TRUSTEES of Medicare, Medicare will go broke in
MA Plan Directory | CMS

Those “going broke” headlines are all about Part A Hospital insurance (HI), which accounted for about 40 percent of the program’s $710 billion in spending in 2017. HI mostly is funded by the Medicare tax that is withheld from worker paychecks and paid by the self-employed. And that tax—as well as other smaller sources of revenue-- is not sufficient to pay the bills. It hasn’t been for years.

Medicare Parts B and D are funded very differently, and are at no risk of “going broke.” Unlike Part A, there is no dedicated tax for these programs. Rather, they are funded through a combination of enrollee premiums (which support only about one-quarter of their costs) and general revenues—another way of saying the government borrows most of the money it needs to pay for Medicare.

No, Medicare Won't Go Broke In 2026. Yes, It Will Cost A Lot More Money

Medicare is not going broke in 2026. What the Trustees Report really says, and what it means to you.

www.forbes.com

Another factor FAVORING MAs is some especially in competitive states like Florida which I know as I lived there under my MA plan in Fl for
over 5 years PAY my Part B social security DEDUCTION. What this means is traditional non-MA Medicare requires that the Part B Medicare payment for 2021 of $148.50 per month is deducted from my SS check...ever month...$1,776 in 2021 to be deducted.
Medicare Rate Increases for 2021 | Medicare Cost Projections

MY MA plan in Florida PAID that Part B deduction so my SS check was larger than the traditional Medicare beneficiary.
Do you understand why? Called competition! With 62 distinct plans, Fl is extremely competitive. Hence MAs have to offer more incentives.
To me that additional $1,776 is a great incentive!
So in summary, Medicare CHARGES your SS for Part B... Some MAs in Florida Pay that monthly charge...mine did!
Over 60% of MAs must pay state/federal income taxes...thus reducing the taxes you might have to pay!
Finally, an advantage that traditional Medicare doesn't offer that my MA offered... OTC supplies... Over the counter... toothpaste, headache tablets, vitamins, blood pressure monitor, other equipment in Fl my MA had $50/month I could order! Another $600 I didn't have to spend on
OTC stuff. So just between the SS payment of $1,776/year and the $600/year in OTC... I SAVED nearly $2,300.
Savings using MA.. $2,300, tax revenue paid local/state/federal incalculable. Oh and one more thing. I got a Samsung tablet with which daily I check my blood pressure, blood glucose readings and report to my MA for their monitoring. The other day I had a much lower diastolic reading and I get a call from the monitoring group AND my cardiologist who was called with this abnormal reading.
Medicare doesn't offer that!

What plan are you on?? Only this year was offered a rebate this high on the news. You are helping to defund Medicare which all republicans and tramp wants. Then you will be on all private plans and they can do whatever they want, pre the ACA scene.

 

[Grumblenuts]

I already addressed what she said, if you truly want to see follow the conversation back to it. Otherwise son, you're dismissed

Read it the first time, toddles. You clearly misinterpret and so misrepresent her intent. How deliberately you do so remains the only question. Being "insurance," every part of Medicare obviously pays for private care and supplies. You're apparently just obsessed with the word "premium" because you feel so strongly that the word could only apply to the individual directly reimbursing govt for its premium payments to these private concerns (leeches). Here's how Part B was originally set up:

Aged persons who enrolled in the medical insurance plan paid a monthly premiums which was initially set at $3.

Three dollars. {Transferred from one's SS. Nobody cared then. They shouldn't have to now.}

 

[JustAGuy1]

I already addressed what she said, if you truly want to see follow the conversation back to it. Otherwise son, you're dismissed

Read it the first time, toddles. You clearly misinterpret and so misrepresent her intent. How deliberately you do so remains the only question. Being "insurance," every part of Medicare obviously pays for private care and supplies. You're apparently just obsessed with the word "premium" because you feel so strongly that the word could only apply to the individual directly reimbursing govt for its premium payments to these private concerns (leeches). Here's how Part B was originally set up:

Aged persons who enrolled in the medical insurance plan paid a monthly premiums which was initially set at $3.

Three dollars. {Transferred from one's SS. Nobody cared then. They shouldn't have to now.}

I get it , you're illterate. Part B premium does NOT go to a Private Insurance company. Son I do Medicare and ACA all day. There is nothing you can teach me. Premium is not "reimbursement", you do know that right? The context by the way is MAPD plans. If you need more education let me know.`

 

[healthmyths]

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

“Although Mom saw her MA premiums increase significantly over the years, she didn’t have any real motivation to disenroll until after she broke her hip and required skilled care in a nursing facility. After a few days, the nursing home administrator told her that if she stayed there, she would have to pay for everything out of her own pocket. Why? Because a utilization review nurse at her MA plan, who had never seen or examined her, decided that the care she was receiving was no longer ‘medically necessary.’ Because there are no commonly used criteria as to what constitutes medical necessity, insurers have wide discretion in determining what they will pay for and when they will stop paying for services like skilled nursing care by decreeing it ‘custodial.’”

Snip

here are some details of in-network services from a popular Humana Medicare Advantage Plan in Florida:

• Ambulance—$300
• Hospital stay—$175 per day for the first 10 days
• Diabetes supplies—up to 20% copay
• Diagnostic radiology—up to $125 copay
• Lab Services—up to $100 copay
• Outpatient x-rays—up to $100 copay
• Therapeutic radiology—$35 or up to 20% copay depending on the service
• Renal dialysis—20% of the cost

Medicare Advantage Plans as a physician. Here's how he describes them:

• Care can actually end up costing more, to the patient and the federal budget, than it would under original Medicare, particularly if one suffers from a very serious medical problem.
• Some private plans are not financially stable and may suddenly cease coverage. This happened in Florida in 2014 when a popular MA plan called Physicians United Plan was declared insolvent, and doctors canceled appointments.11
• One may have difficulty getting emergency or urgent care due to rationing.
• The plans only cover certain doctors, and often drop providers without cause, breaking the continuity of care.
• Members have to follow plan rules to get covered care.
• There are always restrictions when choosing doctors, hospitals, and other providers, which is another form of rationing that keeps profits up for the insurance company but limits patient choice.
• It can be difficult to get care away from home.
• The extra benefits offered can turn out to be less than promised.
• Plans that include coverage for Part D prescription drug costs may ration certain high-cost medications.

Snip

Switching Back to Original Medicare

While you can save money with a Medicare Advantage Plan when you are healthy, if you get sick in the middle of the year, you are stuck with whatever costs you incur until you can switch plans during the next open season for Medicare.3 At that time, you can switch to an Original Medicare plan with Medigap. If you do, keep in mind that Medigap can may charge you a higher rate than if you had enrolled in a Medigap policy when you first qualified for Medicare.8

Most Medigap policies are issue-age rated policies or attained-age rated policies. This means that when you sign up later in life, you will pay more per month than if you had started with the Medigap policy at age 65. You may be able to find a policy that has no age rating, but those are rare.

Pitfalls of Medicare Advantage Plans

A Medicare Advantage plan may help you lower non-covered health costs, but there are definite tradeoffs compared to classic Medicare/Medigap.

www.investopedia.com

-----------------------------------------------------
Just for your information.

Of the 824 MA plans, there are 506 for profit plans.
Now almost ALL of these "for profit" plans are paying federal corporate income taxes which you and anti-capitalists seem to forget.
These federal taxes go to subsidize Medicare which will according to the TRUSTEES of Medicare, Medicare will go broke in
MA Plan Directory | CMS

Those “going broke” headlines are all about Part A Hospital insurance (HI), which accounted for about 40 percent of the program’s $710 billion in spending in 2017. HI mostly is funded by the Medicare tax that is withheld from worker paychecks and paid by the self-employed. And that tax—as well as other smaller sources of revenue-- is not sufficient to pay the bills. It hasn’t been for years.

Medicare Parts B and D are funded very differently, and are at no risk of “going broke.” Unlike Part A, there is no dedicated tax for these programs. Rather, they are funded through a combination of enrollee premiums (which support only about one-quarter of their costs) and general revenues—another way of saying the government borrows most of the money it needs to pay for Medicare.

No, Medicare Won't Go Broke In 2026. Yes, It Will Cost A Lot More Money

Medicare is not going broke in 2026. What the Trustees Report really says, and what it means to you.

www.forbes.com

Another factor FAVORING MAs is some especially in competitive states like Florida which I know as I lived there under my MA plan in Fl for
over 5 years PAY my Part B social security DEDUCTION. What this means is traditional non-MA Medicare requires that the Part B Medicare payment for 2021 of $148.50 per month is deducted from my SS check...ever month...$1,776 in 2021 to be deducted.
Medicare Rate Increases for 2021 | Medicare Cost Projections

MY MA plan in Florida PAID that Part B deduction so my SS check was larger than the traditional Medicare beneficiary.
Do you understand why? Called competition! With 62 distinct plans, Fl is extremely competitive. Hence MAs have to offer more incentives.
To me that additional $1,776 is a great incentive!
So in summary, Medicare CHARGES your SS for Part B... Some MAs in Florida Pay that monthly charge...mine did!
Over 60% of MAs must pay state/federal income taxes...thus reducing the taxes you might have to pay!
Finally, an advantage that traditional Medicare doesn't offer that my MA offered... OTC supplies... Over the counter... toothpaste, headache tablets, vitamins, blood pressure monitor, other equipment in Fl my MA had $50/month I could order! Another $600 I didn't have to spend on
OTC stuff. So just between the SS payment of $1,776/year and the $600/year in OTC... I SAVED nearly $2,300.
Savings using MA.. $2,300, tax revenue paid local/state/federal incalculable. Oh and one more thing. I got a Samsung tablet with which daily I check my blood pressure, blood glucose readings and report to my MA for their monitoring. The other day I had a much lower diastolic reading and I get a call from the monitoring group AND my cardiologist who was called with this abnormal reading.
Medicare doesn't offer that!

What plan are you on?? Only this year was offered a rebate this high on the news. You are helping to defund Medicare which all republicans and tramp wants. Then you will be on all private plans and they can do whatever they want, pre the ACA scene.

Living in Texas my MA is not as competitive as the one I had in Florida because Florida has more older people which I guess you don't understand!

Obviously you know extremely little compared to me regarding Medicare as I've worked with Medicare providers for the last 15 years in processing claims.

You are also obviously against capitalism. Why?
There has never been a system of providing rising levels of living than capitalism.
I mean look what YOU are using today which when I was 20 years old was NEVER possible. Who could send information like we are doing 50 years
ago? NO ONE. What KING in any country or any age would be able to do what you are able to, i.e. with a little pocket device known as a "cell phone"
communicate with the world and for over 10,202,752 for FREE!

How many free government cell phones are out there?

How many free government cell phones are out there? Ten million, twenty million? Who are the biggest Lifeline phone providers?

www.freegovernmentcellphones.net

But it truly is a waste of time communicating with people like you that are Anti-America, anti-capitalism and most importantly ANTI_LOGIC!
Totally and truly ignorant!