Roughly 300 House lawmakers are pushing the federal government to not cut the Medicare Advantage program, as the insurance industry begins a major lobbying effort.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will begin developing its 2017 rates for Medicare Advantage and Part D, Medicare’s prescription drug program. But a bipartisan group of about 300 lawmakers wrote to CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt on Wednesday calling for the agency to “avoid further payment cuts” to Medicare Advantage.
The program allows seniors to buy private health plans through Medicare. In 2015, about 31 percent of the 55 million people on Medicare had a Medicare Advantage plan, according to figures from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Better Medicare Alliance, a lobbying group that includes major insurers such as Aetna and UnitedHealth, also wrote to CMS on Wednesday trying to head off any potential payment cuts.
So far the agency hasn’t made any decision on whether to cut any payments to insurers for Medicare Advantage.
Last year, CMS suggested cutting Medicare Advantage payments to insurers by 1 percent. The proposal sparked a fierce pushback from lawmakers and the insurance industry.
CMS relented and did not cut.
