Medicare Advantage began life as a brilliant idea: a public-private partnership to keep older people healthier and reduce costs.
At the time in 1992, both President George H.W. Bush and his challenger, Bill Clinton, supported it. An editorial in The New York Times declared, “The debate over health care reform is over. Managed competition has won.” What finally emerged in 1997 — Medicare Choice, now known as Medicare Advantage — was hailed as a win-win-win for patients, providers, and payers.