Why Do Democrats Hate Medicare Advantage?

It’s the best program in the entire U.S. healthcare system, including even employer-sponsored plans

By John C. Goodman. Excerpts:

"Medicare has already had a competing public option for more than two decades. It’s called traditional Medicare, and it has been losing the competition. More than half of all Medicare enrollees are in private plans."

"What Mr. Doggett calls the “giant private insurance companies that profiteer off Medicare” are mostly the same companies that are administering Medicaid."

"78% of [Medicaid] enrollees are in private managed care plans, or MCOs."

"enrollees are normally required to join an MCO. Yet it’s rare to hear a congressional Democrat advocate less spending on “giant” MCOs “profiteering” off care for the poor."

[Medicare Advantage] "is the only program in our entire healthcare system in which a doctor who discovers a patient’s previously unknown health problem can send that information to the insurer"

"Medicare Advantage plans are the only plans in our healthcare system that actually want sick people as enrollees."

"for sick people in [ObamaCare] marketplace plans, the out-of-pocket exposure is the highest found anywhere." 

"Significantly more low-income beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans (68% vs. 32%) in 2023. In 2021, such plans were also the preferred choice of black (59%) and Hispanic (67%) enrollees relative to whites (43%)."

"Medicare Advantage is the only program in our healthcare system in which health plans can specialize in the treatment of specific conditions"

"Medicare Advantage plans make money by keeping people healthy."

"Medicare Advantage plans make insulin available free in special-needs plans for diabetics."

"Most employer plans and exchange plans haven’t done the same because free or cheap insulin would attract diabetic enrollees"

"In traditional Medicare . . . “20% percent of diabetes patients routinely get ulcers and 20% of those ulcers turn into amputations.” In Medicare Advantage, the number of amputations is a tiny fraction of that."