A new survey of Medicare enrollees found a quarter of those polled want home care as a benefit.
Medicare consulting firm Medigap.com polled 750 Medicare beneficiaries 65 and older and found home care was among the top five services seniors wanted covered in their Medicare plans. Dental, vision, hearing and mental health services rounded out the top requests.
A third of respondents didn’t feel their plan covered their medical essentials and more than half said they were concerned about the cost of medical expenses. Nearly a quarter of seniors polled said they have considered switching to a new plan.
“From these findings, it’s clear that there needs to be an improvement in education and resources available to Medicare beneficiaries, especially considering nearly two-in-five [37.57%] respondents reported having been overwhelmed when trying to understand what is and is not covered by their plans,” Medigap.com concluded.
Only about a third of the respondents were covered by Medicare Advantage plans, which tend to offer supplemental benefits, such as home care. Those plans are growing in popularity because they are less expensive than traditional Medicare plans, but they have also been coming under increased scrutiny.
The Office of Inspector General recently accused MA plans of delaying or denying medical care and services covered under Medicare ATI Advisory also urged Congress recently to make policy changes that require MA plans to provide more reporting and evaluation on non-medical supplemental benefits.
With approximately 60 million Americans covered under Medicare, Medigap.com said it is impossible to come up with a set of services that works for all seniors, but the nonprofit said beneficiaries need to be aware of possible gaps in coverage and have access to more information when enrolling in plans.
