“Medicare beneficiaries must cover a portion of the costs of services they receive. The rules governing traditional Medicare’s cost-sharing have changed little since the program began in 1965, while private insurance has evolved to include features that traditional Medicare lacks, such as an annual cap on the costs for which beneficiaries are responsible.”
“Modernizing Medicare FFS’s cost-sharing design to include features found in private plans could help address these concerns, but would involve design trade-offs. For example, adding an annual cap on cost-sharing responsibilities while maintaining Medicare’s aggregate share of costs similar to the current design would involve a trade-off between the level of the cap and other cost-sharing requirements.”
“In analyzing four illustrative FFS cost-sharing designs, GAO found that…” Read the full report here.
Source: Modernizing Cost-sharing Design Would Involve Trade-offs, the Results of Which Would Depend on Time Horizon – February 8, 2018. GAO.gov.
