Medicare was originally operated as a single-payer health care system, with the federal government directly purchasing medical services for elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Yet, the proportion of beneficiaries opting to receive those healthcare benefits through privately managed Medicare Advantage plans has increased from 25 percent in 2010 to 49 percent in 2023 and could be close to 70 percent by the end of the decade.
Because they are not subject to political micromanagement, medicare advantage plans can attract enrollees by cutting wasteful expenditures and using the savings to reduce out-of-pocket costs, waive premiums for prescription drug coverage and add coverage for dental care.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Hill
______________________
Chris Pope is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
Photo by Bill Oxford/iStock