Government data indicates Medicare insurance premiums have remained stable this year, USA Today reports, which some are attributing to healthcare reforms and efforts to educate seniors about them.
"We found the Part D premiums have also stayed constant, despite predictions that they would go up in 2012," Center for Medicare director Jonathan Blum told the news source. Seniors, he indicated, are responding to forums held about their care and becoming more involved in the process.
In particular, he reports they are responding to the emphasis on preventive care, which proponents hope will lower long-term costs by allowing conditions to be discovered sooner and courses of treatment to be established at an earlier point. This could mean lower long-term expenses.
In keeping with that strategy, more seniors have come in for annual physicals and wellness exams, government sources told USA Today, although Blum notes it is too early to tell whether this approach will prove cheaper in the long run. For now, however, he cites stable insurance premiums as a good sign.
This echoes an approach many businesses are taking, which emphasizes preventive care measures and rewards employees who maintain healthier lifestyles and behaviors through incentives such as lower benefit costs. The method may not have the same effect on the Medicare-using population as it does on the working population.
