Seniors Take The Cheapest Option
Medicare’s managed care option is growing as the elderly try to save money. They are doing this knowing that “the tradeoff is much less ability to use their preferred doctors and hospitals.” They “can review lists of in-network providers before opting into a plan,” but that provider data is often inaccurate. Even so, they have no problem switching docs. And here is the best part, the Kaiser Family Foundation discovered “shortcomings in the quality of providers in some Medicare Advantage provider networks.” So, what did we learn here?
- Medicare patients are cheap.
- Insurance companies know that.
- Doctor allegiance doesn’t matter anymore.
- Insurance companies know that.
- Quality of providers means nothing.
- Insurance companies know that.
Got it?
#1,000,001 reason to hate insurance companies: There are now insurance company tele-medicine doctors that patients call to get medical care which includes prescriptions. The cost is about 30-40 dollars to the patient which is not covered by the insurance company itself. So, they cut me out by discouraging office visits via high deductibles and encouraging lower quality care via tele-docs.
This discussion proceeds form the core structural flaw in Medicare: unrestrained demand in a growing population, with (relatively) decreasing resources. Every senior, politician, and respondent on this blog who wants to be positive, and not scrap the program but “fix the problems” ignores this central reality. Seniors on Medicare are by definition government dependents, and cannot realistically expect to simply get the doctor or hospital of their choice.
One clarification. “Quality” (notice the quotation marks) DOES mean something to the insurance companies. Because now, if THEY say you aren’t a “quality” doc, they don’t have to pay you as much (or at all).