Democrats in Congress merely want to make Medicare Advantage more efficient, not eliminate the program, according to Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif.
Stark, the chairman of the House Ways and Means health subcommittee, talked about the program Wednesday. The subcommittee convened the hearing in response to an analysis by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which found that Medicare is, on average, overpaying Medicare Advantage plans by 112%.
“America’s Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield and others have been falsely claiming that payment reductions will reduce health care access for lower- and moderate-income seniors–and decrying a goal they ascribe to me of wanting to get rid of the Medicare Advantage Plan,” said Stark, a longtime program critic.
But letting any group of Medicare program participants “wall itself off from both scrutiny and from consideration for payment changes…would be irresponsible for this committee,” Stark said.
AHIP, Washington, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Chicago, have defended the Medicare Advantage program against the effects of the advisory commission report with a print advertising campaign and release of survey results indicating that both patients and physicians would be concerned if Congress made cuts to the program.
Some Democrats in Congress want to shift appropriations from the Medicare Advantage program to support other programs, such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
In the mid-1990s, Congress changed funding rules for the Medicare managed care program in place at that time, and private insurers left that program in droves.
AHIP and the Blues both said at Wednesday’s hearing that Congress should continue support the current program.