Meeting Enrollees’ Needs: How Do Medicare And Employer Coverage Stack Up?

By Karen Davis, Stuart Guterman, Michelle M. Doty, Kristof M. Stremikis
Health Affairs
May 12, 2009
One key issue in health reform concerns the relative roles of coverage offered through private insurance and public programs. This paper compares the experiences of aged Medicare beneficiaries with those of people under age sixty-five who have private employer coverage. Compared with the employer-coverage group, people in the Medicare group report fewer problems obtaining medical care, less financial hardship due to medical bills, and higher overall satisfaction with their coverage. Although access and bill payment problems increased across the board from 2001 to 2007, the gap between Medicare and private employer coverage widened.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.4.w521v1

Very few individuals, especially those already covered by Medicare, will be surprised by this study. It demonstrates that, compared to people under 65 with private employer-sponsored coverage, Medicare beneficiaries over 65 have fewer problems with access to care, have less financial hardship due to medical bills, and have higher overall satisfaction with their coverage.
The private insurance industry has been taking quite a beating lately, and appropriately so. Much of the criticism has been targeted to the individual and small group insurance market, especially since these more innovative plans have been quite ineffective in preventing financial hardship for those who need care.
In contrast, policy makers and legislators in Washington are claiming that the employer-sponsored segment of the private insurance market is working quite well for us, and reform should include policies to expand this market. But this study isolated the employer-sponsored segment and compared it specifically with Medicare. No contest. Medicare is clearly superior to employer-sponsored plans.
This study will be cited by those who support a Medicare-like option within a market of private plans. But what is the implication for the taxpayers?
An employer-sponsored plan is no longer affordable for average-income workers, and already is subsidized through the tax system. It is absolutely inevitable that additional taxpayer subsidies would be required to pay for private plans, whether through tax credits, tax deductions or vouchers. It is morally wrong to require taxpayers to subsidize inferior private health plans when they could be replaced with a superior, more efficient public insurance program – an expanded and improved Medicare for all.
It’s our tax money. We have a right to demand higher value in health care purchases made by our public stewards – precisely the value that a single payer national health program would bring us.

By Karen Davis, Stuart Guterman, Michelle M. Doty, Kristof M. Stremikis
Health Affairs
May 12, 2009

One key issue in health reform concerns the relative roles of coverage offered through private insurance and public programs. This paper compares the experiences of aged Medicare beneficiaries with those of people under age sixty-five who have private employer coverage. Compared with the employer-coverage group, people in the Medicare group report fewer problems obtaining medical care, less financial hardship due to medical bills, and higher overall satisfaction with their coverage. Although access and bill payment problems increased across the board from 2001 to 2007, the gap between Medicare and private employer coverage widened.

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.4.w521v1

Comment:

By Don McCanne, MD

Very few individuals, especially those already covered by Medicare, will be surprised by this study. It demonstrates that, compared to people under 65 with private employer-sponsored coverage, Medicare beneficiaries over 65 have fewer problems with access to care, have less financial hardship due to medical bills, and have higher overall satisfaction with their coverage.

The private insurance industry has been taking quite a beating lately, and appropriately so. Much of the criticism has been targeted to the individual and small group insurance market, especially since these more innovative plans have been quite ineffective in preventing financial hardship for those who need care.

In contrast, policy makers and legislators in Washington are claiming that the employer-sponsored segment of the private insurance market is working quite well for us, and reform should include policies to expand this market. But this study isolated the employer-sponsored segment and compared it specifically with Medicare. No contest. Medicare is clearly superior to employer-sponsored plans.

This study will be cited by those who support a Medicare-like option within a market of private plans. But what is the implication for the taxpayers?

An employer-sponsored plan is no longer affordable for average-income workers, and already is subsidized through the tax system. It is absolutely inevitable that additional taxpayer subsidies would be required to pay for private plans, whether through tax credits, tax deductions or vouchers. It is morally wrong to require taxpayers to subsidize inferior private health plans when they could be replaced with a superior, more efficient public insurance program – an expanded and improved Medicare for all.

It’s our tax money. We have a right to demand higher value in health care purchases made by our public stewards – precisely the value that a single payer national health program would bring us.