Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage is the part of Medicare through which private health plans provide comprehensive medical coverage to seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries.

Almost 12 million Americans, or roughly 25 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries, have chosen to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan because of the better services, higher-quality care and additional benefits these plans provide.

Medicare Advantage plans offer a different approach to health care delivery than beneficiaries experience under fee-for-service Medicare. Instead of just focusing on treating beneficiaries when they are sick, these plans place a strong emphasis on preventive health care services that help keep beneficiaries healthy, detect diseases at an early stage, and avoid preventable illnesses. Recent reports have found that beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage receive higher quality care, are subject to fewer preventable hospital re-admissions and are less likely to have potentially avoidable hospital admissions. Analysis of federal data also show that Medicare Advantage is an important option for low-income and minority Medicare beneficiaries. 

The Affordable Care Act reduces funding by more than $200 billion for the Medicare Advantage program ($136 billion directly and another $70 billion indirectly), which will result in seniors and other Medicare Advantage beneficiaries facing higher premiums, reduced benefits and fewer health plan choices. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office has stated that additional benefits provided by Medicare Advantage will be cut in half and that millions of beneficiaries will lose their current coverage.