Affordable Care Act improving the value of Medicare plans without affecting quality or choice

One of the biggest ways President Obama's health care reform bill was able to reduce the federal budget deficit by a projected $143 billion over the next ten years is by controlling the costs that Medicare pays to private insurance plans through a program called Medicare Advantage. These private health plans cover 11 million Medicare recipients and cost the government on average 14% more than coverage under regular Medicare, with no difference in health outcomes.

Now that the Affordable Care Act has begun to limit the amount of extra money these private insurers are able to receive for covering Medicare patients, the loss of health plan options and care quality that many Republicans predicted have yet to materialize:

Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy and research organization, reports that Medicare Advantage customers still have an average of two dozen plan options in their communities and premiums are rising by a smaller amount in 2011 than in 2010 or 2009.

The Obama administration also has expanded a program to reward high performing Medicare Advantage insurers with bonus payments. -- Washington Post