Scott, Sinema Lead Effort to Protect Medicare Advantage

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) led 11 of their colleagues in a letter urging Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to protect the Medicare Advantage (MA) program from payment cuts being floated in the Senate.

Senators Capito (R-W.Va.), Fischer (R-Neb.), Kelly (D-Ariz.), King (I-Maine), Manchin (D-W.Va.), Peters (D-Mich.), Rosen (D-Nev.), Rubio (R-Fla.), Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tester (D-Mont.), and Young (R-Ind.) also joined the letter.

“As Congress and the administration work together 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,” the senators wrote. “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.”

“To ensure this continuum of care, we stand ready to protect MA from payments cuts, which could lead to higher costs and premiums, reduce vital benefits, and undermine advances made to improve health outcomes and health equity for MA enrollees.”

Background:

The Medicare Advantage program:

• Currently serves more than 26 million Americans, 31 percent of whom come from a racial or ethnic minority, and more than 50 percent of whom have fixed incomes of less than $30,000 annually.
• Offers benefits aimed at addressing social determinants of health including vision, dental, hearing, telehealth services, transportation, meal services and delivery, and other wellness benefits.

Click here to read the full letter.

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