Medicare Advantage helps with the deductibles of Medicare A and B.  Everyone with Medicare Parts A and B is eligible, except those who have End-Stage Renal Disease.  There are special Medicare Products for those with End-State Renal Disease and other select chronic diseases.  Medicare Advantage Plans used to be called Medicare + Choice Plans.   If you join a plan that offers this benefit, it may save you money.  You would still get all Medicare Part and and Part B covered services.  Also, doctors can choose to come out of these plans freely and not accept your plan.

• Medicare Managed Care
• Medicare Preferred Provider Organization Plans (PPO)
• Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans (PFFS)  

PFFS Plans are offered by private companies.  The private company, not Medicare, decides
how much the plan will pay and how much you pay for services. You may be able to get extra benefits for an extra premium.

Before you join a PFFS Plan, make sure you find doctors, hospitals, and other types of
providers willing to contact the plan for payment information and accept the plan’s
payment terms.

The MSA plans cover all Medicare Part A and Part B benefits. MSA plans may also cover additional benefits for an extra cost, but no plans are offering optional supplemental benefits in 2007. There is no basic premium
in regular or demonstration Medicare MSA plans. Enrollees still have to pay the part B premium.

Members in an MSA plan will receive an annual deposit into an interest-bearing account from CMS to help them cover their health care costs. Members can use these funds to pay for medical services. When the money in the account is used to cover “qualified medical expenses” under IRS rules, it is not taxed.

Once a member has reached his/her deductible, the plan is responsible for all Medicare-covered costs. Under the MSA demonstration, a plan may provide cost-sharing after the deductible, up to an out-of-pocket maximum.

Any amount of the deposit that is left at the end of the year remains the property of the member and can be used to cover health care costs the following year.

MSA plans are statutorily restricted from covering Part D drugs, but MSA enrollees can join a stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP). Funds in the MSA account cannot count as an IRS qualified expense if used to pay towards the Part D premium but they can be used to cover co-payments, coinsurance and deductibles for Part D drugs. Funds withdrawn from the MSA account used to pay for Part D drugs do count towards TROOP.