Survey finds Medicare beneficiaries happier with coverage than younger people on private plans

Jul 20 2012

The poll results, published in Health Affairs, found that 8 percent of seniors said their coverage was "fair" or "poor" while 20 percent of those with a plan offered through work said that.

Los Angeles Times: Survey: Medicare Patients Happier Than Those With Private Coverage
Elderly Americans on Medicare are substantially happier with their insurance coverage than their younger counterparts who rely on commercial insurance, according to a new national survey. Only 8 percent of Medicare beneficiaries 65 or over rated their coverage "fair" or "poor," the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund found. By comparison, 20 percent of those with employer-based coverage gave their insurance plan low marks (Levey, 7/18).

National Journal:  Seniors Prefer Medicare To Private Plans, Study Says
Seniors enrolled in the traditional Medicare program were happier and spent less out-of-pocket than their peers who chose private Medicare Advantage plans, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs.  The study found that traditional Medicare costs less not just for the government but for beneficiaries, data that is sure to emerge in the next discussions about whether Medicare should be converted from a government-run insurance program to a private voucher system, a proposal championed by congressional Republicans and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (Sanger-Katz, 7/18).

Politico Pro: Medicare Patients Report Fewer Cost Issues
Medicare beneficiaries report higher satisfaction with their insurance than people on private plans, according to the Commonwealth Fund. In a new study posted online by Health Affairs Wednesday, Commonwealth found that 20 percent of adults surveyed who received insurance through their employers said their coverage was either fair or poor. Just 8 percent of adults on Medicare had the same poor assessment of their insurance. Those in the individual market fared the worst -- about a third said their insurance was just fair or poor (Smith, 7/18).

And on the dual eligibles' front --

Modern Healthcare: CMS Won't Expand Dual-Eligibles Pilot Program
The CMS will keep enrollment in a coming national pilot project for dual-eligible beneficiaries below 2 million people, or more than a million fewer than states have proposed. Melanie Bella, director of the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office at the CMS, addressed the expected size of the pilot program at a Senate Aging Committee hearing on the controversy that has arisen around it (Daly, 6/18).