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Go this off of my LinkedIn feed this morning:
"As if we need more reasons not to go the Medicare Advantage (MA) route. Stay with traditional medicare. MA pays providers far less than conventional medicare and makes us jump through hoops and ladders just to see patients. There are tons of reasons why individual providers and hospitals are dropping MA."
Laurence BenzFounder Confluent Health, CEO Dental Care Alliance
Then he goes on to post a link to a WSJ article (subscription required) but the gyst is that the 2026 plans will have "Skinnier benefits, higher premiums and fewer options".
No surprise there.
Please make sure an Advantage plan is truly an advantage for you.

My daughter was a Woundcare Unit Manager. She called me one day and asked if I had a MA. I said no, won't have one. She had just gotten off the phone with a patients MA and fought with them about payment for bandages. They said they didn't pay, she told them under Medicare A&B they do pay. She said she is always fighting with them.

My DH union allows us to choose our insurance one being a MA. For years I have refused to take it. It started out as an HMO, now I think they are PPOs. At my age, I don't want the hassle of dealing with them. But, I see it coming where I may not have a choice.

My nephew has NJ Blue Cross Blue Shield and Medicare. A few years back he had United for percriptions only. He went for a doctors appt and was asked for his United medicare advantage card. He said he did not have one other than prescriptions. The woman showed us that Medicare said he did. I called Medicare and told them neither my nephew or I as POA authorized any changes. They did not seem surprised that this happened and were happy to take him back where he had been. I will not be surprised that in the future, we will be required to get Medicare Advantage plans.
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The only Advantage plan that's an actual advantage with Medicare, imo, is the Kaiser Permanente Advantage Medicare plan. That's it. And KP is only offered in certain states. Since they are the healthcare provider AND the insurance company, they've streamlined everything to be all inclusive and cost effective for the insured. There are no hoops to jump through, preapproval for tests and seeing other specialists is instantaneous, and second opinions are approved w/o hassle bc Medicare REQUIRES it.

The other Advantage plans exclude many services and are especially prohibitive with regard to rehab stays after a hospitalizion. The hoops one has to jump through to get a service approved is ludicrous. I had to deal with moms MA plan which was a nightmare, and forced me to send her to a horrible SNF for rehab bc none of the others had MA beds available! Yup, only SO many Medicare Advantage Plan beds are available for rehab! And that's only one negative. Moms MA plan switched after 1 miserable year for everyone, going back to BC/BS which was like a breath of fresh air tbh.

The goal now is to make ALL Medicare plans Advantage plans, promising us cherry soda in the drinking fountains, but giving us sewer water instead.
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