A recent study by the Kaiser insurance company's far-left-wing "foundation," released on October 15 in an attempt to affect the results of the United States presidential election, shows the theoretical effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on Massachusetts seniors who subscribed to Part C Medicare Advantage plans like those offered by Blue Cross, Fallon and Tufts1 in 2010.
President Obama's PPACA legislation -- better known as Obamacare -- cut $146 billion (2013-2022) from Part C Medicare and everyone expects higher Part C Medicare Advantage premiums to result, beginning in 2013. As part of a larger research project, looking at the possible effects of proposed premium-support plans on all Medicare beneficiaries currently under the age of about 55 when they retire, Kaiser quantifed what Part C Medicare increases would have looked like if the proposals scheduled to go into effect as many as 10 years from now had been in effect four years ago. Kaiser put the dollar amount that Part C Medicare Advantage beneficiaries might have paid under such an absurd set of assumptions in the $100 a month range on a national basis.
This is primarily caused by PPACA removing a small percentage "bump" that the government provides to Part C Medicare Advantage insurers in the bidding process that takes place prior to setting of Part C premiums.
If Massachusetts aligned with the national average2 in 2010, Part C Medicare Advantage plan premiums in Massachusetts would more or less matched the average montly premium of Massachusetts' very expensive private Medigap Supplemental-1 policies. However because Medigap policies do not include drug coverage, Part C Medicare Advantage plans would have still been a better bargain than Medigap in 2010
-- Dennis Byron
1The Kaiser research was based on 2010 data. Harvard offered a Part C Medicare Advantage plan in 2010 but no longer offers such a plan
2 Although Kaiser quantified the results state by state it did not publish them
