Got Medicare Advantage? Prepare for New Perks ...

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Got Medicare Advantage? Prepare for New Perks — and New Questions.

When Medicare’s open enrollment period begins on Oct. 15, the private insurers that underwrite Advantage plans ... will be free to add a long list of new benefits.

Among those the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will now allow, if they’re deemed health-related: Adult day care programs. Home aides to help with activities of daily living, like bathing and dressing. Palliative care at home for the terminally ill. Home safety devices and modifications like grab bars and wheelchair ramps. Transportation to medical appointments.

The proportion of Medicare beneficiaries who opt for these Medicare Advantage plans has climbed steadily to 33 percent last year from about 16 percent in 2006. In 10 years, the Kaiser Family Foundation calculates, that figure (of Medicare beneficiaries opting for a Medicare Advantage program) will reach 42 percent. “The Medicare Advantage program is very successful,” Seema Verma, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator said. “We see consistently high marks for satisfaction.”

“Failure to invest in simple things like safe housing and transportation means you will invest in hospitalization and emergency room visits” at far higher costs, she added.

full story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/20/health/medicare-advantage-benefits.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FElderly