Private Medicare plans get billions for veterans who get VA care

One advert exhibits two older males speaking jovially on a entrance porch, “Vietnam veteran” seen on considered one of their hats. One other exhibits an older man in navy regalia, arms crossed, smiling proudly on the digital camera.

Below names like “Patriot Plan,” “Braveness MA,” and “Honor” plan, all the main non-public Medicare insurers are courting veterans immediately, promoting plans that their adverts say complement their Veterans Affairs protection with advantages like dental and imaginative and prescient. These Medicare Benefit plans are fairly well-liked — virtually 42% of all Medicare-eligible veterans had one in 2022.

The sharp development of MA plans amongst veterans over the previous decade alarms well being coverage researchers, who see the federal authorities successfully paying twice for a similar affected person’s care. That’s as a result of Medicare pays MA plans a set month-to-month fee for every particular person they enroll. That cash is meant to cowl all their Medicare-eligible providers, whether or not they get care or not. The issue happens when the VA, additionally a part of the federal authorities, pays for care the MA plan may have lined.