Medicare vs Large Employer Health Plans

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a new report "How Does the Benefit Value of Medicare Compare to the Benefit Value of Typical Large Employer Plans? " The analysis compares the traditional fee-for-service Medicare benefit package, including the drug benefit, with a typical large-employer PPO plan and with the Blue Cross/Blue Shield standard national PPO plan available to federal workers under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan, which covers about half of all federal workers. The study, by researchers at Hewitt Associates and the Kaiser Family Foundation, examines the value of Medicare and the other plans for the average senior enrolled in Medicare, as well as for low-, moderate- and high-cost beneficiaries. In each case, Medicare’s benefit package is less generous than the other plans.