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October 21, 2013 at 07:52 AM
Holders of Medicare supplement insurance who said they had health problems spent an average of about $30,000 on care in 2010.
The ailing Medigap holders spent about 2.5 times as much on care that year as consumers who said they had health problems but only had traditional Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) coverage, without help from a Medigap policy, a Medicare Advantage plan, or employer-sponsored retiree health benefits.
Medigap holders who said they were in good or excellent health spent about $12,000 on care, or about $6,000 as much as traditional Medicare FFS-only enrollees who said they were in good or excellent health.
Average spending on out-of-pocket expenses was about one-third higher for all Medigap holders than for all Medicare FFS-only enrollees.
John Dicken, a GAO director, published those figures today in a report on the factors associated with Medigap holders’ health care spending.
Analysts at the GAO — a congressional research arm — prepared the report at the request of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Dicken said the GAO left Medicare Advantage plan enrollees out of the analysis because they lacked the same kind of data they had for other Medicare enrollees.
