The health insurance industry is continuing its campaign to convince the public that Medicare Advantage saves taxpayers money, but experts say federal data still concludes the exact opposite — and that the program as currently designed is a drain on Medicare’s trust fund.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s primary lobbying group, funded a new report that was conducted by actuaries at Wakely Consulting Group. AHIP claims the report proves Medicare Advantage — the controversial, private alternative to original Medicare that has become a cash cow for insurers — is “saving Americans billions of dollars every year.” The actuaries, however, never use that language in the report.
STAT spoke with several independent Medicare policy experts, all of whom said AHIP’s report was incomplete at best and refuted by other studies that analyzed the same data. Analysts also stressed the federal government certainly isn’t reaping any savings from Medicare Advantage.
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