Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Among Beneficiaries With Chronic Conditions —Reply

In Reply In our recent Research Letter, we found that the number of chronic conditions was not associated with disenrollment from MA to FFS or from FFS to MA between 2010 and 2019. Dr Burke uses our study findings to discuss the MA program as a whole and raises concern that some individuals may not completely understand MA plans ’ utilization management tools and subsequently find it difficult to switch to FFS because they cannot find a generous Medigap policy at an affordable price. As the MA program is rapidly expanding among Medicare beneficiaries, Burke’s concerns are valid. However, our study did not examine any of the issues Burke raises and never intended to. In an unbiased way, we reported factual trends in Medicare enrollment patterns, indicating that MA disenrollment has decreased over time, including among those with multiple chronic conditions. Nonetheless, we think that some clarifications would be he lpful for JAMA’s readership.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research