Medicare Announces Decreased Payments in 2010 | bloglongtermcare.com

In a move that will likely increase costs to seniors for their Medicare Advantage health insurance plans, in April the federal government announced a decrease in the rates it will use to figure Medicare Advantage reimbursements to insurers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid, expects those payments to fall by 4 to 4.5 percent next year. This raises concerns for seniors about how the lower rate will affect their private health insurance plans, since lower reimbursements would impact earnings for private insurers and could cause them to pass along costs to those they insure. The overall impact could be higher premiums with fewer benefits for those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Read More