CMA Health Policy Blog

Medicare Beneficiary Costs Will Rise if Affordable Care Act is Repealed (And Private Medicare plans will be paid more)

December 13, 2016 at 5:20 pm Judith Stein Leave a comment

With all the talk about repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), many people miss the impact repeal would have on Medicare, older and disabled adults, and their families. ACA added preventive benefits to Medicare, decreased Part D cost-sharing for prescription drugs, and increased the long-term solvency of Medicare by about 11 years.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

” Full repeal would increase spending primarily by restoring higher payments to health care providers and Medicare Advantage plans. The increase in Medicare spending would likely lead to higher Medicare premiums, deductibles, and cost sharing for beneficiaries, and accelerate the insolvency of the Medicare Part A trust fund. Policymakers will confront decisions about the Medicare provisions in the ACA in their efforts to repeal and replace the law.”

http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/what-are-the-implications-of-repealing-the-affordable-care-act-for-medicare-spending-and-beneficiaries/

Policy-makers and people who rely on Medicare should think twice before supporting legislation that will give windfalls to private insurance companies, while reducing coverage and increasing costs for older and disabled people.

Entry filed under: Access to Health Care, Affordable Care Act, Cost-sharing, Drug Costs, Health Care, Health Care Reform, Health Care Reform Repeal, Health Insurance, Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA), Medicare Reform, Obamacare, Privatization, Single Payer, Uncategorized. Tags: Health Care Reform, Medicare, prescription drugs.