Another potential MA plan target?

Last year, Medicare Advantage plans spent $38 billion on services traditional Medicare doesn't pay for, such as gym memberships, meals, transportation, and dental care. But a new report presented to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) last week lamented the agency's inability to evaluate the value of those services, to what extent beneficiaries actually used them, and with which companies the plans contract to provide them. Medicare allows MA plans to offer supplemental benefits with the intent they will make patients healthier or improve access to services, and the plans use them heavily to woo enrollees every year. The report also looked at rebates that Medicare makes to MA plans -- rebates that the plans use in part to pay for these extra benefits. The rebates -- which amounted to $83 billion last year -- are based on costs in each plan's geographic area as well as other factors. Click here for the MedPAC report.