Martha, Medicare is not free by any stretch of the imagination. Most people pay a premium for Part B and a few pay for Part A. Plus there are co-payments and such. In my area Mecicare Advantage plans are not free either with additional monthly premiums and cost sharing structure. I should hope the study controlled for situations in which the beneficiary has supplemental or secondary insurance in both groups. In the case of supplemental medi-gap policies again those have their own premiums and some forms of secondary insurance do as well. None of these scenarios translates to "free" as you put it. By all means correct me if I misread your comment.

Re the questions/answers not making sense, more likely the person summarizing didn't get the nuances. Agree: reporting here on responses doesn't compute. Let's hope the survey did better.

As a billing service we find the traditional Medicare patients are much happier with the claims payment process compared with those on MA plans. Somehow the misunderstanding "oh but I don't have a deductible nor copay" continues with many of the MA members. Maybe education rather than aggressive marketing would help these patients overall experience?

This makes no sense. Original Medicare is an 80/20 plan with unlimited exposure. How can you have less exposure on OM than an MA plan.
Outside of prescriptions (which are many) my wifes 4 hospital admins and 1-4 doctors visits a month plus tests, have cost us $165 total over the last 3 years. We have no premium and no copays and are not on a dual plan. There is a problem with the questions and answers on this survey

This synopsis does not indicate if the traditional Medicare sample had supplemental insurance which may be a significant component of satisfaction.

Seniors with Medicare plus a Medicare supplement might have no co-pays or limited co-pays for medical care. People on Medicare Advantage plans have no monthly premiums (or low premiums) but must pay a co-pay for every service. People love their Advantage plans when they're healthy - not so much when they get sick.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/medicare

What was the age range of those surveyed? Did it account or adjust for generational differences in how people perceive providers?

http://thielst.typepad.com

Could this have something to do with expectations? When people pay for something or receive it as part of an employment package they have one type of expectation. When something is "free" (meaning others pay for it and there is no connection between my pocket book and the service) the expectations may be different.