Rates for Medicare Advantage to fall as enrollment soars

Medicare Open EnrollmentRebuking the notion that health insurance premiums will reach new highs as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration spoke with reporters on Thursday and insisted that premiums for Medicare Advantage policies will fall in 2012. Medicare Advantage is one of the more popular federal health care plans and boasts of lower deductibles than other insurance programs. The program accounts for only a quarter of the 48 million policies currently in effect through Medicare.

Officials also noted that they expect to see enrollment rates for the program to rise in the coming years. They attribute this to the successes of the Affordable Care Act, which aims to make health insurance more affordable overall. The Department of Health and Human Services has released data that supports these claims. The HHS says that premiums will drop by an average of 4% during 2012 and that enrollment in the Medicare Advantage program will rise by 10%.

Last year’s reform has seen an unending tide of controversy and opposition. Opponents of the reform claim that it will not help solve the problems with the nation’s health care system, only add to them. Kathleen Sebelius, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, says that the opposite is happening and that the reform is making health care more accessible to a wider range of people.

An open enrollment session is scheduled for the Medicare Advantage program. It will start October 15 and lasts through December 7.

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