This fall, seniors in Southwest Florida will be bombarded with solicitations from Medicare Advantage insurance plans. These plans will sometimes offer lower premiums than traditional Medicare or they will promise freebies in addition to regular Medicare benefits. However, choosing a Medicare Advantage plan may significantly limit a patient's options for treatment.

One day, all of us are going to get an unfortunate, unforeseen diagnosis. And when we get such a diagnosis, we will want to have all the treatment options possible available to us.

We might need referral to a specialized center in Miami or Tampa or even as far away such as Rochester, Minnesota or Houston. We might need a lifesaving drug that costs tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. With a Medicare Advantage plan, some of these options may not be available. However, traditional Medicare plus a supplemental policy is the gold standard, and it is the most widely accepted insurance a senior can have.

Traditional Medicare with a supplement may cost a little more, but when unforeseen diagnoses occur, a patient will have the widest possible options. Medicare pays 80 percent of all costs, with the supplementary private policy paying the rest. All too often I hear a patient who is confused and believes they have Medicare when they have signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan. I have to explain to them that their treatment options may be limited because they in fact do not have Medicare.

Medicare advantage is NOT Medicare. Once a person has signed up for one of these plans, their Medicare dollars are turned over to a private company to "manage" payment for their care. The private insurance company will try to maximize profits. So, rationing of care or denial of certain services may occur.

Insurance companies, as we all know, make more money when they don't pay claims. Please don't believe what you may have heard in the media, traditional Medicare is stable and healthy. Furthermore, it is 98% efficient. This means that 98% of the dollars in the system go to pay doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies. None of the dollars go to padding corporate profits.

So, how did we get to this confusing situation for consumers? In 2003 Congress created the Medicare Advantage program under the George W. Bush administration. The thinking was that in the long term these plans would save the government money. The hope was that private management of Medicare dollars would be more efficient.

That never happened. Over the past 20 years numerous studies have shown that Medicare Advantage plans have not saved the government any money. As a practicing physician here in Lee County, I recommend that patients sign up for traditional Medicare plus a supplement, such as the one provided by AARP. You can access more information by visiting the AARP website at this address: aarp.org/membership/benefits/insurance/uhc-medicare-supplement/

Dr. Scott Crater, Fort Myers, Cape Coral