Study: MA plans pay hospitals about 8% less than fee-for-service Medicare

Medicare Advantage plans paid about 8% less for hospital services than fee-for-service Medicare in 2009 and 2012, according to a study published yesterday by Health Affairs. About one-third of the difference was due to the narrower hospital networks in Medicare Advantage, the authors said. “Consistent with previous work, we found that commercial plans paid significantly more than either Medicare Advantage or FFS Medicare,” the study notes. The data on MA and commercial plans was from the Health Care Cost Institute, and represented about 31% of the elderly MA population and 27% of the non-elderly population covered by commercial plans.