Posts Tagged Medicare Advantage

An article by Wendell Potter on medicareresources.org discusses the advantages and disadvantages of Medicare Advantage plans versus traditional Medicare in providing adequate care to seniors. For some people, particularly those without serious illnesses, Medicare Advantage may be the best choice. This is because some Medicare Advantage plans offer benefits not provided by original Medicare, such as dental coverage, vision coverage, hearing aids, gym memberships and more. However, elderly Americans with serious ailments might be better off sticking with Medicare. Similarly, people who are already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan and develop a serious ailment might want to drop the Medicare Advantage plan and return to traditional Medicare. Why? Medicare provides what the article refers to as “unfettered access” to treatments and physicians. That is, people on Medicare have greater access to doctors and facilities of their own choosing. Another potential problem with Medicare Advantage plans is they empower Utilization