The most often repeated left wing lie about the public Part C Medicare Advantage health plan program is that it costs taxpayers 14% more than Original Medicare. The number is usually attributed to the so-called non-partisan Medpac group appointed by Congress to advise it on United States Medicare.
There are three errors in that single claim. Just to be accurate, the difference is between Part C and traditional medicare, not Original Medicare. And the difference -- which is not historically 14% -- is a per beneficiary number. And what Medpac actually says is that
"IN 2009 ALL PART C PLANS (NOT JUST Medicare Advantage plans) on average received a premium of about 14% over what beneficiaries would have cost had they stayed in traditional Medicare."
In other words, 14% was the kicker in 2009, in just one year out of the almost 20 years of the program's existence. Before 2009, some years the kicker was negative 5%. Most years before and since 2009, it was single digit positive. This kicker was done to increase the availability of managed care particularly for the rural and urban poor. It worked. Such people now use Part C disproportionately.
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