No payment cuts to Medicare Advantage program, say Scott, 12 colleagues

The Medicare Advantage (MA) program, which provides high-quality, affordable care to over 26 million senior citizens and enrollees with disabilities who qualify for Special Needs Plans, should be protected from payment cuts, according to U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and a bipartisan group of his colleagues.

As Congress and the Biden administration work to find opportunities to promote better access to care and reduce costs, ensuring that MA’s care delivery model remains strong and stable should remain a priority, wrote Sen. Scott and 12 colleagues in an Oct. 15 letter sent to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. 

“The MA program is essential to fulfilling the CMS’s commitment to improving and delivering high-quality, accessible, affordable, and equitable care choices to Medicare beneficiaries,” according to their letter, which was also signed by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Todd Young (R-IN), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

The senators pointed out that during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the MA program is protecting and supporting seniors and individuals with disabilities by providing more care in the home through meal delivery, providing personal protective equipment, multifaceted beneficiary engagement, vaccine education, and delivery services to underserved communities, according to their letter. 

“MA plans are also supporting beneficiaries by utilizing telehealth visits,” Sen. Scott and his colleagues wrote.

They noted that if the MA program is not protected from payments cuts, then the results could be higher costs and premiums, reduced benefits and undermined advances in improved health outcomes and health equity for MA enrollees.

“We look forward to partnering with you to fulfill CMS’s commitment to improving health care access, quality, and affordability, and to advancing health equity,” wrote the senators. “We are committed to building on the progress already made by protecting proven health care coverage options like MA for the program’s more than 26 million beneficiaries, including the millions of seniors we represent in our states.”