A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a dearth
of reliable information for those shopping for Medicare Advantage plans.
Specifically, plan directories often contain dated or misleading information about the size and scope of hospital networks—a huge potential problem, as going out of network can
be very expensive for those insured under Medicare Advantage. Of the 409 plans studied by Kaiser, only 23% offered what the report called “broad” networks, or networks covering
more than 70% of a county’s hospitals.
In other words, it’s quite possible for a misinformed patient to go out of network. More commentary from the Wall Street Journal
may be read here.