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Comparing Medicare And Medicaid Managed Care Plans

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The purpose of this paper is to thoroughly examine the similarities and differences of Medicare and Medicaid managed care plans by comparing and contrasting its strengths, weaknesses, incentives, commitment to access, and risks to the consumer. Medicaid and Medicare are both health insurance programs financed and administered by government entities and are both equivalent in terms of the number of beneficiaries and total expenditures (McCarthy, Schafermeyer, & Plake, 2011). These healthcare programs differ in terms of how they are funded and governed and who they cover. Medicare is an important source of coverage for 65 or older adults, for people under 65 with disabilities, and for people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States. It provides health insurance protection and enables access to medical care for 54 million beneficiaries. However, the coverage Medicare provides comes with premium and cost-sharing requirements as well as gaps in covered benefits, especially for long-term services and supports (LTSS). As a result, Medicare coverage often is supplemented by additional coverage from retiree benefits, Medigap policies separately purchased, and, for low-income beneficiaries, Medicaid (Rowland, 2015). Now, the eligible Medicare beneficiaries can choose between managed care and indemnity plans. Medicare managed care program, Medicare advantage plan, promoted new forms of managed care that were more like traditional insurance policies than like HMOs.

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