Medicare Advantage vs. Medicare Traditional
What is the difference between the Medicare Advantage Plan, which is open enrollment right now, and the Medicare Traditional Plan, in terms of the current Health Care Bill?
The traditional plan is Medicare Part A and Part B, which has been the original plan. It has been around since 1965.
Medicare Part C, which is an HMO-type plan, much like group health. It is all under a managed care program. So they extended that to foster some competition. It went directly to the providers and stated that if they accept this advantage plan, they will receive a higher amount of reimbursement than with the traditional plan. This caused some practitioners to only accept the advantage plans.
However, under the new bill, starting 2011, the payments will be made the same. I believe this will be a change for the better. It will allow people to honestly judge which is the better system for them.
