KFF Health News 08/27/2024 - Feds Killed Plan To Curb Medicare Advantage Overbilling After Industry ...
The Reason IMO - Over 50% of beneficiaries choose to get their Medicare benefits thru Medicare Part C or the Medicare Advantage plans. Many of them choose this method of Medicare coverage because they cannot afford the Traditional Medicare method of coverage - they cannot afford to pay the 20% of the charges for care which is their out of pocket cost on Traditional Medicare nor can they afford a Medigap plan. Medicare does not have a maximum or total out of pocket for the beneficiary.
So Medicare needs Medicare Advantage plans - CMS and government knows this so they just didn't want to shake the bushes and get the industry mad at them for this court/legal action.
Medicare Advantage Insurers would probably survive without Medicare - maybe - but the program of Medicare might not survive financially without Medicare Advantage plans especially since CMS does not know how to solve the beneficiary's money problems with the Traditional program. IMO