Reader's View: Medicare Advantage is a rip

The Nov. 3 “Statewide View” column, “ Protecting Medicare Advantage protects seniors, our communities ,” was so misleading a rebuttal is necessary.

Criticisms of Medicare-Advantage plans include limited provider networks, an excessive requirement for prior approval of care, delayed and denied care, and misleadingly aggressive advertisements. Provider networks are shrinking as many health systems and hospitals opt out because of poor and delayed reimbursement. In addition to limiting your choice of doctors and hospitals, this can lead to worse health outcomes. A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that Medicare Advantage-covered patients requiring aggressive surgery for cancer had less access to more experienced hospitals, resulting in a higher short-term risk of death.

But