WASHINGTON — A new approach to paying doctors and hospitals — originally billed as a way to bolster traditional Medicare — might be speeding the public health insurance program’s privatization.
Medicare Advantage typically gets credited, or blamed, for moving beneficiaries into a system run by private health insurers. The program has grown rapidly since its inception; nearly half of people on Medicare are now in a private plan.
But there may be another wave of privatization coming. This year, Medicare launched a new type of accountable care organization with a structure that looks a lot like Medicare Advantage. Generally, doctors form ACOs with hospitals and other health care providers to coordinate care for populations of Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare calculates what it has cost to care for those beneficiary populations in the past, and if ACOs can do it for less, while maintaining the quality of care, Medicare gives them back some of the savings.
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