Medicare Advantage Health Insurance Plans

Medicare is one of the currently existing government-run health insurance plans (for individuals over the age of 65), and has been cited as a possible model for the public option proposed in healthcare reform bills. Medicare Advantage consists of supplement plans sold by private insurers, which provide extra coverage to certain consumers. Basically, think of Medicare as the basic model of a car and Medicare Advantage as the optional extras (sunroof, multi-CD changers). As of last year, over 10 million senior citizens who were eligible for Medicare also bought Medicare Advantage policies.

The health insurance industry is taking advantage of Medicare Advantage’s popularity with a new television spot. An ad by America’s Health Insurance Plans points out that healthcare reform will lead to cuts in the government’s support and subsidization of Medicare Advantage plans. One of the five healthcare bills floating around congressional committees (which must be reconciled into a unified bill for the entire Congress to vote on) calls for a $100 billion reduction in federal funding of Medicare Advantage. The program has its own issues that must be fixed, but older people are more vulnerable to scare tactics surrounding possible changes to their current long term health insurance. This may also be why the senior citizen demographic is least likely to support major healthcare reform.

(Image: Kaiser Family Foundation)