Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (SNPs) specialize in serving Medicare beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, are eligible to be in nursing facilities or other long-term-care institutions, or have chronic conditions. This report provides an early descriptive...

To expand the role of private managed care plans in Medicare, the MMA provided Medicare Advantage plans with significant increases in monthly payment rates, beginning in March 2004. About half the payment increases were used by plans to reduce enrollee premiums and cost sharing and enhance...