Medicare Advantage, privately run health plans paid for by Medicare, have covered an increasing number of seniors and disabled people in recent years. More than 1/3 of the 58 million Medicare beneficiaries opt for these non-traditional plans.
The government has been collecting data about the care delivered to these enrollees since 2012. Last year, it began using the data to calculate payments to private insurers and officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were preparing to turn the data over to the public.
The Medicare Advantage data was slated to be made public at the annual meeting of AcademyHealth in New Orleans. But the session was canceled at the last minute, catching researchers and ex-Medicare officials by surprise.