Not all doctors and/or healthcare sites take traditional Medicare, so there will be limitations for people who choose to go that route.
This can also be true for traditional Medicare…partially because not all docs accept traditional medicare so the ones that do tend to be busy.
I am not advocating for MA plans vs traditional medicare. People have to decide what’s best for them, the doctors they currently have, and where they live. It takes a good deal of time and research to sort thru things.
And then there are docs who have taken traditional medicare, but are no longer accepting new Medicare patients.
Many practices are being bought up by big groups or hospitals and many of them take medicare. But yes, how easily you can get an appt is a challenge.
Overall, more likely an older adult can get an appt with traditional medicare than MA.
And virtually all facilities (inpatient and urgent care) will take traditional medicare, but not all take MA plans (as posted above).
Why would someone get a Kaiser plan if they wanted use a provider other than Kaiser?
In 2015, 93% of non-pediatric primary care physicians took traditional Medicare, but that dropped to 72% who took new traditional Medicare patients.
They needed an ER ASAP for their son. They had to drive way out of their way to get to a Kaiser approved facility. That ended badly. Young fela had an MI en route, and ultimately lost appendages.
ETA I may have misread your question. Were you asking about Mayo or Kaiser?? If Mayo, my friend has traditional medicare and was calling to schedule her annual checkup (Medicare’s is a “wellness check”). She was just curious since we were discussing conflicting info here as to whether Mayo takes MA. So she asked. They said no.
A lot has changed in healthcare in almost 9 years (and by the time that was published, the numbers were probably at least a year or more old).
This is why I’ve been playing the dual PCP game for a few years. One that I really like in a non Sutter network, and one at Sutter. IF you are an active patient - seen a PCP within 3 years - AND the practice is a medicare assignment practice THEN they must keep you when you roll onto Medicare. At least that’s the case in CA.
Sutter is not taking new traditional Medicare patients in my area. They are however seriously and aggressively marketing their Advantage plan. DH (on Medicare) has gotten no less than a half dozen direct mailers from Sutter touting the advantage (ha) of switching to an Advantage plan…Um…nope.
One of many MA plans…
Sutter Health and Alignment Healthcare Team Up in Northern California for Medicare Beneficiaries: Alignment Health
Looks like they have arrangements with lots of MA plans and seems to have their own HMO plan as well (Sutter Health Plus) and they have something called “Sutter Medicare Direct”, a collection of Docs who take Medicare (an ACO).
Anecdotal but I have traditional Medicare and have yet to run into a doctor who doesn’t accept it.
My husband had traditional Medicare and cancer. His supplemental insurance covered the 20% for chemo that Medicare doesn’t. His monthly cost for supplemental insurance was a drop in the bucket compared to the copay my best friend had to pay for treatment. Actually no more than a drop in the bucket period when you’re looking at what chemo cost.
Love DH’s Advantage plan. It’s been awesome. 
Nicely written article and I share the sentiments. At times I’ve been asked to counsel friends trying to figure out the conundrum as age 65 decisions loom. In two cases, they went with MA plans. It is a gamble, as between some dental coverage, some meds, and other appealing benefits for less money, what is not to like? While heath is good, anyhow. I have warned those folks that they may have higher costs down the road as well as suboptimal care should disaster strike. They have chosen that risk and have funds to cover the copays.
I have seen people hospitalized with chest pain more fearful of the copay than death for an outpatient stress test or not get the best care facility for rehab, especially in rural areas. The social workers who planned for hospital discharges despised MA plans as all aspects of home or rehab care tended to become issues with preapproval or not accepting certain insurance plans. The purpose of insurance is protection against worst case scenarios in my book. But I also appreciate the authors point that choosing MA is giving power to the private insurers, rather than the universal health care that would more greatly benefit the majority.
More generally, Sutter Health has a Medicare web page where it looks like they favor Medicare Advantage plans; traditional Medicare is not mentioned at all.
Please see what @dietz199 posted in post # 48
They sure seem to try to bury their program that accepts traditional Medicare Sutter Medicare Direct | Sutter Health
When we hit Medicare age within months of each other, we both chose traditional Medicare. Because we were never part of a big group plan, we knew full well as employers the high cost of health insurance. The Part G premiums are very cheap to us!
We know someone who’s had cancer for years now (started as prostate cancer). He’s had many treatments. The latest costs a LOT of money. He hasn’t paid a dime. He has traditional Medicare. I wonder what he would have had to pay with MA?
In some states (not mine), there is no medical underwriting if one wants to switch from MA to traditional Medicare. But for most people (in most states), once you get sick, you might not get that choice. Better to choose for the eventuality of illness.
I know people who have MA. They love their premiums. But I don’t know what they will think when/if they have illnesses that require copays.
We’re not switching from our Advantage plan. We have friends up here who have had cancer and other serious problems and they have had no issues with the Advantage plans. Another friend had back surgery out of state with no problems. Maybe it varies in different states, but the plans in Maine are good.
As I have posted before, I’ve had Medicare Advantage plans since I turned 65 (75 now). I just switched from Humana, which was very hard to deal with, to AARP UHC. It’s been my experience that the four major hospital networks in NYC take all plans, as do the great majority of doctors. I know that I have cost Humana a bundle, as I did Empire Blue before then, with several hospitalizations due to long Covid, knee replacement surgery, open gallbladder surgery, etc. etc. Humana this past year and AARP UHC charge zero for a pcp visit (virtual or in person including virtual urgent care) and $50 for a specialist visit. My Rx costs have been minimal except when I hit the donut hole this past year and was on Dupixent for chronic post-Covid asthma.
However that doesn’t mean I think the system is good or fair. It stinks for all. imho.
So people here who actually have Advantage plans are happy with them, even when they’ve needed services.
The bigger issue, that is explained in the article I linked in the OP, is how they are subsidized and the millions they make off the backs of the taxpayers. Please read the article.
For example: “ Medicare Advantage plans not only make money by withholding care but, perhaps more significantly, by misrepresenting the severity of illness among their beneficiaries. MA plans are paid a monthly fee by the federal government based upon a patient’s level of illness, known as risk score. It has been well established that, through advertisements (hawking free gym membership, dental care, etc.) directed towards healthier people, these plans enroll patients who are generally healthier, thus spending less in the aggregate.
But, hold on, here’s where they really pick the taxpayer’s pocket. MA providers often upcode patients’ level of illness to make them appear sicker than they really are, or even fabricate nonexistent illnesses. On the positive side, the Dept. of Justice has caught on. Virtually all major MA insurance providers have been fined by the Dept. of Justice for violation of the False Claims Act.”
And more:
“ In a paper released by Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) last month, reported overpayments to MA plans totaled between $124 and $140 billion in 2022. A Congressional Budget Office analysis in 2019 concluded that the addition of dental, hearing, and vision benefits to traditional Medicare would top off at $84 billion.
By funneling tens of billions of dollars each year into the black hole of for-profit business, do we really improve care? Nope. As a nation, do we need or benefit from for-profit health insurance companies in general, and Medicare Advantage plans in particular? Not in the least.”
