New Medicare Advantage Benefits Are Supposed to Help Seniors Stay Out of the Hospital

Although private Medicare Advantage plans offered next year will include new benefits for older adults, they will not be widely available or easy to find during fall enrollment, reports National Public Radio . The benefits will include transportation to medical appointments, home-delivered meals, wheelchair ramps, bathroom grab bars, or air conditioners for people with asthma. Only 273 plans in 21 states will offer at least one of these benefits, while Medicare officials say only about 7 percent of Advantage members will have access. Medicare officials envision the added benefits as key to helping Advantage members avoid expensive hospitalizations, with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Seema Verma calling federal sanctions for new supplemental benefits "one of the most significant changes made to the Medicare program." She also expects plans to expand the number of services in coming years. Still, plans offering these services will likely have only some of the promised options and could have different eligibility criteria and other constraints. Enrollees will require a recommendation or referral from a healthcare provider in the plan's network, and they also may need to have a certain chronic health problem, a recent hospitalization, or meet other eligibility requirements.