Medicare Advantage. What Advantage?

The short, if anyone signs up for a Medicare Advantage plan they're being played. I saw through this scam congress enacted from day one. Each are either HMO or PPO plans. This meaning you cannot go outside their network of approved doctors. Thus sometimes forcing people to drive hours to one of their specialist even if one is minutes away that Medicare would have covered.

I'm familiar with a fellow who once worked for a health insurance company. His job was to try and deny payments for treatments. He was constantly reviewed and hounded if he approved too many. Eventually he was fired because his denial rate didn't match the insurance company's goals.

There are actually certain groups of doctors who form a company paid to only review records never having seen any of the patients. These can be many states away and are contracted by insurance companies to do just that (deny treatment is necessary). The more they diagnose a treatment as unnecessary the more they are paid.

As far as I'm concerned Medicare Advantage plans are legal scams perpetuated by those in congress trying to destroy Medicare. They're great plans as long as someone never gets seriously ill. Otherwise they are a nightmare for those unfortunate enough not to have chosen traditional Medicare.