Huge Increases -- Up to 100% -- in Boston, Massachusetts Medicare Advantage Monthly Costs for 2015

(For more on the national implications of health care reform on United States Medicare, and information on other Medicare issues, see theabcsofmedicare blog here.)

Once we saw the large size of the Obama administration cuts in public Part C Medicare health plan capitation fees back in September -- and saw that Boston took the biggest hit -- there was no question where we were headed. I knew personally that my own Worcester-County-Massachusetts plan from the Democratic Party's Tufts Health Insurance organization was going up about 10% in price. As of the October 1, 2015 release of the Medicare Plan Finder and organization of the data by research organizations such as q1medicare.com, now we begin to see the bigger picture. It ain't pretty, especially in Boston.

Whereas Obama administration propaganda says things such as:

 "...the average Medicare Advantage premium will go up for 2015 by about $1.30 (a month)... CMS says most plan members will not see any increases."

...it is more accurate to go by what has actually happened in the real world. In Suffolk County MA, which basically means Boston, the monthly cost of four of the five most popular Medicare Advantage plans (accounting for about 80,000 of the 124,000 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in the county) has gone up as follows:

1. United Healthcare Senior Care Options SNP -- Premiums up from $13.50 to $22.90, a lot more than $1.30
2. United Healthcare (AARP) Medicare CompleteChoice PPO -- premium up 33% from $30 to $40  a month, a lot more than $1.30, with the drug deductible up from zero to $255 adding another possible $20 to the base monthly expense for a nice round 100% increase
   
3. Tufts Medicare Preferred HMO Basic Rx -- Held the monthly premium the same at around $56 but raised drug deductible from zero to $150 for an effective 20% increase
4. Medicare PPO Blue PlusRx -- The annual drug deductible went up to $200 from $0 and the monthly premium went up 24%, from $124 to $153. Combining those two factors alone -- before we know what Blue Cross of Massachusetts did to co-pays -- the typical increase is $50 more a month -- not $1.30
5. Medicare HMO Blue PlusRx -- The annual drug deductible went up to $200 from $120 and the monthly premium went up 16%, from $167 to $193. Combining those two factors alone -- before we know what Blue Cross of Massachusetts did to co-pays -- the typical increase is $35 more a month -- not $1.30

No plans appear to have gone down in monthly cost effectively or even absolutely but two very expensive Tufts Part C plan premiums were held at about the same rates up near $200 a month. The poor middle-class seniors that disproportionately use Medicare Advantage are not buying those plans; it must be the rich people in Beacon Hill and in West Roxbury. 

This game with averages played by Obama's minions is one way the government gets to claim everything is fine while the lower middle class seniors dependent on these plans pay more for their health coverage so people not yet on Medicare -- some making over $60,000 a year -- can get large income tax breaks from the Federal government.

NOTE: No-drug-coverage and Medicare/Medicaid Medicare Advantage plans in Suffolk County were not compared year over year in detail but a quick scan indicates similar effective double-digit increases.