Medicare Advantage Plans Receive a Boost

Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare Advantage plans are supposed to be made less attractive. The government is supposed to reduce the amount the plans receive per enrollee. But that hasn’t happened. The plans are very popular, enrolling about 30% of Medicare beneficiaries and rising. For the third year in a row the government announced that it is increasing, not decreasing, the amount it will pay the plans a little bit more than it did last year.

Nearly 30 percent of Medicare enrollees are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, a popular alternative to the traditional program, which works through private plans contracting with the federal government.

Even though the Affordable Care Act called for major cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, the agency has reversed planned cuts for the past three years amid hard lobbying by the insurance industry.