They’re also making patients pay a higher share of the total bill, which discourages use of out-of-network hospitals and clinics.
With major medical centers like Mayo, Hoadley said, patients with fairly routine health care needs might note the clinic’s reputation and seek care there even when others could provide comparable quality at a lower cost. Original Medicare with a good Medicare Supplement policy lets seniors make such a choice, including duplicative care, without financial consequences.
“Does that lead us to getting too much care?” he asked. “Should a plan help to manage those decisions for us?”
For now, insurance agents say the clear trend is for Medicare Advantage plans to limit patient options.
“They’re simply closing their [broad-access plans] altogether or removing them from certain counties,” said Joshua Haberman, the chief executive at Alexander & Haberman in Bloomington. “Other companies are taking a different approach, where … [these plans] function as much narrower networks.”