Reports Examine Medicare Advantage, Private Companies’ Participation in Program

• "Value of Medicare Advantage to Low-Income and Minority Medicare Beneficiaries," Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association: The study -- by Kenneth Thorpe, professor and chair at Emory University's Department of Health Policy and Management, and Adam Atherly of Emory -- finds that 40% of blacks and 53% of Latinos who are eligible for Medicare and do not have coverage through either Medicaid or an employer are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, compared with 33% of white beneficiaries. In addition, 38% of Medicare beneficiaries with annual incomes below $10,000 and 38% of beneficiaries with annual incomes between $10,000 and $20,000 who do not have Medicaid or employer coverage are enrolled in Medicare Advantage. Further, the study estimates that without Medicare Advantage, Medicaid costs could increase by $792 million annually and about $4 billion over five years (BCBSA release, 9/20).
  
  
• "Private Plans in Medicare: Another Look," Health Affairs: While encouraging private health plans to participate in Medicare has long been a challenge, recent changes to the program and the political environment might make the program more attractive to health care companies, according to a Health Affairs study by Marsha Gold, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research. According to the study, private firms might find participation in Medicare advantageous because of higher payment rates, the size of the program, a program structure that allows participating companies to offer a diversity of products and the fact that beneficiaries who want to participate in the new prescription drug benefit must enroll in a private plan (Mathematica Policy Research release, 9/20).