Medicare benefit structure to receive House hearing

The House Ways and Means Health subcommittee will hold a hearing on Medicare's "outdated, confusing" benefit structure, the panel's chairman announced Tuesday.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said his subpanel will weigh ideas for reforming Medicare's "array of confusing deductibles, copayments and coinsurance," calling the effort "long overdue." 

"This hearing will enable the subcommittee to investigate the limitations, inefficiencies and inadequacies of traditional Medicare’s cost-sharing structure and identify ways to bring the Medicare program into the 21st century," Brady said in a statement Tuesday.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises Congress on Medicare policy, has recommended overhauling the program's benefit structure.

In 2012, MedPAC suggested an out-of-pocket maximum in traditional Medicare and a combined deductible for Parts A and B, among other policies. 

Brady's hearing will take place the morning of Feb. 26.

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