I was kicking back with the June 2012 MedPAC report last night (you know, relaxing) and this, about the Medicare Advantage (MA) quality bonus demo, caught my eye:
While the statutory provisions would have given bonuses to plans with about 25 percent of the projected MA enrollment for 2012, under CMS’s MA quality bonus demonstration, as we have noted, plan projections show that 93 percent of enrollees are expected to be in plans receiving bonuses, resulting in additional program costs estimated to be $2.8 billion for 2012, compared with the $200 million that would have been expended in bonus payments under the statute.
That’s nearly a four-fold increase in the number of enrollees in plans getting quality bonuses and a fourteen-fold increase in cost.
It is expensive to get everyone to be above average. The taxes in Lake Wobegon must be very high.
