Last week the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a comprehensive review of research literature comparing health care access and quality in Medicare Advantage with the traditional Medicare program. Today, 30 percent of all people with Medicare are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, private plans that contract with the federal government to provide Medicare benefits. The literature review analyzes 45 studies that compare MA and traditional Medicare, published between 2000 and 2014.
The report reviews studies that examine a variety of topics, including beneficiary reports on quality and access, potentially avoidable hospital admissions, readmission rates, health outcomes, resource utilization and more. While highlighting some methodological criticisms of the studies, the report finds that the cumulative evidence shows that MA plans tend to perform better than traditional Medicare in providing preventive services and conserving their resources, at least through 2009. At the same time, according to the report, people with Medicare consistently rate traditional Medicare as being better than MA in terms of quality and access, though one study suggests that this gap may be closing for some groups of beneficiaries. Across studies, sicker beneficiaries overwhelmingly favor traditional Medicare.
Ultimately, the report expresses disappointment in the lack of information comparing MA with traditional Medicare. KFF calls for more study of the differences between MA and the traditional Medicare program, particularly in light of increasing MA enrollment.