Guest Column: For Alzheimer’s Patients, Protecting Medicare Advantage is a Must by Wayne Mortrude

For Alzheimer’s Patients, Protecting Medicare Advantage is a Must
By Wayne Mortrude

Being a caregiver for someone living with Alzheimer’s disease is never easy. It’s even harder and more heartbreaking when the person that you’re caring for is the same person who spent nearly twenty years raising and caring for you.

When my mother received her Alzheimer’s diagnosis over 20 years ago, we knew it would just be the beginning of a long, uphill battle to ensure she has access to all the care she needs to live the healthiest, most normal life possible. Despite the struggles we still face, we count ourselves lucky that she is enrolled in Medicare Advantage. The program has offered unparalleled support and comprehensive coverage that helps address my mother’s unique health care challenges.

Better care coordination is one of the main things that stands out in Medicare Advantage in comparison to its fee-for-service counterpart. Patients living with Alzheimer’s, like my mom, must often see multiple doctors and specialists. That can include primary care physicians, neurologists, and home health care providers. The level of care coordination in Medicare Advantage ensures all providers are on the same page, which means better results for my mom and less stress for me as her caregiver.

Medicare Advantage beneficiaries also have access to in-home health risk assessments, which are invaluable tools for any patient but particularly useful for those living with Alzheimer’s disease. In-home assessments bring health care professionals into patients’ homes, where they can learn a lot more about a patient than in an office visit.

These visits help providers spot fall risks, problems with medications, nutrition issues, and other health risks, including both physical and mental. Identifying and addressing these threats early helps prevent emergencies later down the line, keeping patients like my mom safer and healthier. That kind of support means a lot to families and caregivers who only want the best for their loved ones.

A national survey of caregivers reveals just how important they find Medicare Advantage to be, both in the lives of the ones they care for as well as in their own lives. Over half of all caregivers reported saving at least five hours a month because of the support they receive from their loved one’s Medicare Advantage plan. Nearly half of all respondents also reported savings of over $1,000 annually through lower premiums, copays, and out-of-pocket costs, all thanks to the program.

Given the tremendous support Medicare Advantage has among caregivers and their patients, you might think the program has earned the support of our President and his Administration. After all, more than half of the entire Medicare patient population is now enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. However, the program continues to face threats, most recently from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which announced weakened funding for the program. Limited investments in Medicare Advantage have historically been shown to reduce benefits and raise costs for seniors, including folks like my mom who are battling Alzheimer’s. That’s not acceptable.

That’s why we need Senator Thune and other policymakers to advocate for caregivers and seniors alike by urging the CMS to reconsider its harmful proposal. If they follow through with this, seniors across the nation could lose health care and be left with no options.

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Wayne Mortrude is a Realtor in Dell Rapids and his mother is a Medicare Advantage recipient at Bethany Homes in Brandon, SD.