Fight to Rename 'Medicare Advantage' Gets New Push

Rep. Mark Pocan and two colleagues are reviving a fight to take “Medicare” out of the name of the Medicare Advantage program — and, this time, they have a YouTube that looks like a parody of a Medicare Advantage TV ad.

The Wisconsin Democrat introduced the new version of the Save Medicare Act bill today, together with Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Il..

The sponsors are promoting the position that “only Medicare is Medicare,” and that a Medicare Advantage plan may fail to provide the care that an older Medicare enrollee might need.

What It Means

If the bill sponsors get a significant amount attention, some clients could be more interested in hearing about using another type of coverage, Medicare supplement insurance, to fill the many gaps in Original Medicare Coverage.

The Basics

A Medicare Advantage plan is a health coverage arrangement that uses a combination of federal money and enrollment premium payments to offer what looks like an alternative to Original Medicare.

Enrollees still pay the Original Medicare Part A hospitalization program premium, if they have not already paid for that coverage through payroll taxes, and they still pay the Medicare Part B physician and outpatient services program premium.

A plan manager typically uses limits on the doctors and hospitals an enrollee can see and active efforts to manage use of care to hold down the deductible and the Medicare Advantage plan’s own, separate monthly premium bills.

The Medicare Advantage program serves 30 million of the 65 million people who now have Medicare coverage. Another 14 million Medicare enrollees use another arrangement, Medicare supplement insurance combined with Original Medicare, to avoid having to pay Original Medicare deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance accounts.

The Bill

At press time, the Save Medicare Act bill did not yet have a bill number or a Congress.gov bill tracking entry.

The bill would rename the Medicare Advantage program and prohibit Medicare Advantage plans from using the word “Medicare” in plan titles or ads.

The Pocan-Khanna-Schakowsky bill is a new version of H.R. 9187, a bill that Pocan and Khanna introduced in the 117th Congress. That bill had a total of four co-sponsors, all Democrats.

H.R. 9187 died in the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee at a time when Democrats controlled the House.

Republicans now hold a majority of the seats in the House.

The Video

The new parody ad features music, stock art and video cuts that make the video look like an ad that will end with a narrator telling viewers to call a toll-free 1-800 number for more information now.

“Private health insurance companies get seniors to sign up for private plans rather than Medicare by calling themselves Medicare Advantage,” Schakowsky says in the parody ad video. “We want to stop private plans from calling themselves Medicare… And don’t call 1-800 anything.”

“Get the program you’ve paid for and earned,” Khanna says. “And remember: Only Medicare is Medicare.”

The Political Context

The new Medicare Saves Act bill likely will face significant opposition from Democrats in Congress as well as from Republicans.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., organized a group of 57 senators, including 20 Democrats and independents who caucus with the Democrats, to sign a letter asking the Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to look for ways to sustain and strengthen the Medicare Advantage program.

“We are committed to our nearly 30 million constituents across the United States who rely on Medicare Advantage, and to maintaining access to the affordable, high-quality care they currently receive,” the senators told Brooks-LaSure.

Patient Views

Excel Impact, a marketing firm that runs the Medigap.com Medicare plan lead-generation website, and that sells Medicare supplement insurance policies as well as Medicare Advantage plans, recently surveyed 488 current and former Medicare Advantage plan enrollees.

The firm found that 71% of the 277 survey participants who now have Medicare Advantage coverage reported being very or somewhat satisfied with their coverage, and 18% said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied.

Some of the other survey participants had dropped Medicare Advantage plan coverage.

About 17% said the plan they had did not meet their medical needs, and 12% said they had problems with a plan’s provider network.

Pictured: Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis. (Photo: House)