Medicare Advantage Is Scamming You

[Celerity]

11. it was part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and was signed into law by Bill Clinton

https://www.medicarerights.org/pdf/medicare-advantage-101-legislative-milestones.pdf

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA 97) created Medicare Part C—originally called
Medicare+Choice and now known as Medicare Advantage—and made significant changes to
Medicare’s interactions with managed care plans.

Responding to concerns about solvency, overpayments, and favorable selection, the BBA 97
reworked TEFRA’s payment formula, established new risk-adjustment measures that focused
on health status, and created an annual enrollment period to limit frequent mid-year changes.

It also authorized new types of private plans to participate: Preferred-provider organizations
(PPOs), provider-sponsored organizations (PSOs), and private fee-for-service (PFFS) plans.

Although the reforms were expected to increase enrollment 15% by 2005, plan market
participation contracted, enrollment numbers fell, and benefit packages shrank. Subsequent
analysis attributes these shifts to several factors, including “natural market evolution and
shakeout after a period of rapid growth…Medicare policy changes, the backlash against
managed care, and growth projections that were probably always unrealistic.”


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Balanced Budget Act of 1997

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Budget_Act_of_1997

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105–33 (text) (PDF), 111 Stat. 251, enacted August 5, 1997) was an omnibus legislative package enacted by the United States Congress, using the budget reconciliation process, and designed to balance the federal budget by 2002.

This act was enacted during Bill Clinton's second term as president. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the act was to result in $160 billion in spending reductions between 1998 and 2002. After taking into account an increase in spending on Welfare and Children's Healthcare, the savings totaled $127 billion. Medicare cuts were responsible for $112 billion, and hospital inpatient and outpatient payments covered $44 billion. In order to reduce Medicare spending, the act reduced payments to health service providers. However, some of those changes to payments were reversed by subsequent legislation in 1999 and 2000.

Overview

The Balanced Budget Act was introduced on June 24, 1997, by Republican Ohio Representative John R. Kasich. There were three short titles that the act was also known as in the House of Representatives. In the House, this act was also called the Child Health Assistance Program of 1997, the Expansion of Portability and Health Insurance Coverage Act of 1997, and the Veterans Reconciliation Act of 1997.

The act changed key components of Medicaid that help to improve and expand Medicaid itself. The bill proposed a plan to get federal Medicaid savings, federally, in three areas. The bill also aimed to expand federal and state authority within the Medicaid system. The bill also established two new block grants to child health and to the states. These grants helped to bring in money to Medicaid systems for children and people in the states being funded to use to improve their Medicaid systems. It also created the State Children's Health Insurance Program which gives low income children healthcare coverage. The law introduced what would later be named Medicare Advantage under the name Medicare+Choice.

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