Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans for Dual Eligibles: A Primer
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Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2008-02
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
Charles J. Milligan, Cynthia H. Woodcock, Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans for Dual Eligibles: A Primer, Commonwealth Fund pub. 1108 Vol. 31.
Rights
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Abstract
The Special Needs Plan (SNP), a new type of Medicare Advantage
plan created by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), targets one of
three special-needs populations—including beneficiaries who qualify both for
Medicare and Medicaid benefits (“dual eligibles”), the focus of this issue brief.
It identifies the key issues that underlie one of the MMA’s central goals for dualeligible
SNPs—“the potential to offer the full array of Medicare and Medicaid
benefits, and supplemental benefits, through a single plan”—and it outlines their
progress thus far. The brief observes that true coordination between SNPs and
Medicaid programs, despite some state and federal initiatives, has largely failed to
occur, and it discusses some of the reasons why. Consequently, the brief offers
recommendations for improving dual-eligible SNPs’ prospects and extending their
lives (legal authorization for SNPs is scheduled to expire at year-end 2008).