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Last week, a television ad featuring Andy Griffith launched to try to raise the public’s support for the new law:
“1965, a lot of good things came out that year, like Medicare. This year, as always, we’ll have our guaranteed benefits, and with the new healthcare law, more good things are coming: free check-ups, lower prescription costs and better ways to protect us and Medicare from fraud. See what else is new. I think you're gonna like it."
Next time, Griffith should check his facts. Medicare benefits simply aren’t guaranteed for all. Seniors participating in private Medicare Advantage will see significant cuts in their plans.
Factcheck.org finds:
“About 10 million Medicare Advantage recipients could see their extra benefits reduced by an average of $43 per month, according to the Congressional Budget Office. And more recently, a detailed analysis by the Medicare program’s own chief actuary, Richard Foster, stated in April:
“Medicare Actuary Richard Foster: The new provisions will generally reduce MA rebates to plans and thereby result in less generous benefit packages. We estimate that in 2017, when the MA provisions will be fully phased in, enrollment in MA plans will be lower by about 50 percent (from its projected level of 14.8 million under the prior law to 7.4 million under the new law).
“Even the head of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, acknowledges that Medicare Advantage benefits are going to be reduced. ‘I’m sure that some of those additional benefits have been nice,’ the Wall Street Journal quoted her as saying in a July 25 report. ‘But I think what we have to look at here is what’s fair and what’s important for the strength of the Medicare program long term.’”
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