Medicare Advantage Membersā Expected Out-Of-Pocket Spending For Inpatient And Skilled Nursing Facility Services
By Laura M. Keohane, Regina C. Grebla, Vincent Mor and Amal N. Trivedi
Health Affairs, June 2015
Abstract
Inpatient and skilled nursing facility (SNF) cost sharing in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans may reduce unnecessary use of these services. However, large out-of-pocket expenses potentially limit access to care and encourage beneficiaries at high risk of needing inpatient and postacute care to avoid or leave MA plans. In 2011 new federal regulations restricted inpatient and skilled nursing facility cost sharing and mandated limits on out-of-pocket spending in MA plans. After these regulations, MA members in plans with low premiums averaged $1,758 in expected out-of-pocket spending for an episode of seven hospital days and twenty skilled nursing facility days. Among members with the same low-premium plan in 2010 and 2011, 36 percent of members belonged to plans that added an out-of-pocket spending limit in 2011. However, these members also had a $293 increase in average cost sharing for an inpatient and skilled nursing facility episode, possibly to offset plansā expenses in financing out-of-pocket limits. Some MA beneficiaries may still have difficulty affording acute and postacute care despite greater regulation of cost sharing.
From the Discussion
MA beneficiaries still pay a great deal for inpatient and SNF services even after new regulations have gone into effect. We found that these expenses often exceed what traditional Medicare beneficiaries without supplemental coverage would pay under the Part A deductible, which covers hospitalizations and SNF services. The majority of MA beneficiaries are enrolled in zero-premium plans with higher cost-sharing expectations. This pattern could reflect other studiesā findings that Medicare beneficiaries are strongly influenced by premium levels and have trouble selecting plans that will minimize their out-of-pocket exposure.
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/6/1019.abstract
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Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
The growth in enrollment in private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans has been largely due to the attraction of not having to pay a premium for the plans. The trade-off is that the patient is exposed to higher out-of-pocket expenses.
Many studies have shown that selection of health plans is most heavily influenced by the premium, since plan purchasers are averse to higher premiums. For insurers to be able to offer plans with low premiums they must reduce the coverage, primarily by requiring higher deductibles and other cost sharing. This study shows that the cost sharing for inpatient and SNF services may be unaffordable and thereby impair access for those enrolled in zero-premium MA plans – the plans that the majority select.
In a single payer system, there is no premium. Equitable taxes, based on ability to pay, fund the universal risk pool. Individuals are not faced with the temptation of being allowed to keep more money in exchange for accepting less than adequate coverage. With single payer, everyone would have adequate coverage, while progressive taxes would would make it affordable for all of us.