Study: Private Medicare costs $5.2B more
Source: By THERESA AGOVINO, Associated Press, Wednesday, November 29, 2006 ยท Last updated 9:15 p.m. PT
NEW YORK -- Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in private, managed care plans cost the government 12.4 percent more than those in the traditional program last year, for a total cost of more than $5.2 billion, according to a study released Thursday.
Payments to what are called Medicare Advantage plans amounted to $922 per beneficiary over what a comparable enrollee would have spent in the traditional fee-for-service program, said a study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation supporting independent research on health and social issues. There are 5.6 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the Advantage plans.