Health insurers are expected to make it more difficult on Presidential candidates pushing single payer versions of “Medicare for All” after they added hundreds of thousands of seniors to their private Medicare Advantage plans this year.
New benefits for seniors under Medicare Advantage began Wednesday, the first day of the 2020 New Year, in what has already been a record for the number of health plans participating in a program that offers seniors the same benefits as traditional Medicare plus extras like preventative care and outpatient healthcare services.
This new Medicare Advantage enrollment comes as most Democrats running for their party’s nomination for the Presidency back off a single payer version of Medicare for All that would uproot the private insurance industry.
In Iowa, for example, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont continues to push single payer Medicare, but former Vice President Joe Biden has launched ads in recent weeks in touting an effort to build on existing coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which offers subsidies for private coverage and has expanded Medicaid, mostly through private insurers. Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, once considered a single payer “purist” has backed off moving all Americans to a government-run healthcare system in favor of first bolstering the ACA and introducing a public option, as the Washington Post reported less than two months ago.
The lack of momentum for a single payer version of Medicare for All among Democrats vying to challenge President Donald Trump should Republicans re-nominate him isn’t lost on health plans signing up seniors to Medicare Advantage.
Source: Forbes