Insurance Commissioners Reject Calls To Limit Seniors’ Medigap Policies
By Susan Jaffe KAISER HEALTH NEWS in collaboration with Dec. 6, 2012
The nation’s insurance commissioners have some stern advice about proposals to shrink Medicare spending by asking seniors with supplemental Medigap policies to pay more out of pocket for their health care: Don’t do it.
The health law requires the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to advise the administration about whether seniors would use fewer Medicare services — and therefore, cost the government less money — if the most popular Medigap plans were less generous.
“Everything we’ve looked at has shown that increasing cost-sharing does stop people from seeking medical care,” said Bonnie Burns, a training and policy specialist at California Health Advocates who serves on an NAIC committee that has studied the issue for more than a year. “The problem is they stop using both necessary and unnecessary care.” [More in The Washington Post] or longer version from Kaiser Health News]