CMS to Medicare plan bidders: Spend less

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants the national per capita ”growth percentage” for the Medicare Advantage plans that cover the aged and disabled to be minus 2.3 percent.

The growth percentage is turning into a shrink percentage because CMS is expecting per-capita plan medical costs to fall 3.2 percent, CMS officials said in a 199-page description of the 2014 Medicare plan bidding methods. 

CMS officials are expecting the per-capita cost for the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program for the aged and disabled to fall 2.1 percent.

“We appreciate that plans are facing several legislatively mandated changes affecting payment for 2014, and this may present challenges for plans,” CMS officials said in the bidding document.

Comments on the document are due March 1.