CMS has achieved a 1 percent reduction in Medicare Advantage premiums for next year by denying proposed rate increases and benefit cuts in about 14 percent of bids from private insurers in the program, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
CMS issued no denials last year and Republicans criticized the new denials as short-sighted, predicting many of the plans would bail out of the program at the first opportunity in 2012. "The administration may be trying to persuade seniors that everything is fine, but the millions of Medicare beneficiaries who will lose their current coverage or see fewer benefits in the coming years will disagree," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in the report.
Altogether, CMS denied 298 proposed rate increases and benefit cuts out of 2,100 bids. "For these plans we said, 'No, you have to do better,'" said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, in the report. "Despite the claims of some, Medicare Advantage remains strong and a robust option for millions of seniors who choose to enroll or stay in a participating plan today and in the future."
The agency is gearing up payment cuts of $136 billion to Medicare Advantage plans under the healthcare reform law. It is too late for plans to withdraw from the Medicare Advantage program in 2011 and CMS said Medicare Advantage enrollment, now at 11 million, is expected to rise by 5 percent in 2011. But plans that lose money on the program in 2011 can withdraw in 2012.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on Medicare Advantage.
Read more coverage on Medicare Advantage:
- Many Medicare Advantage Plans Wouldn't Qualify for Upcoming Quality Payments Based on Current Data
- CMS Suspends Medicare Advantage Enrollment, Fines Quality Health Plan
- Insurers Face Frozen Medicare Payments for 2011
CMS issued no denials last year and Republicans criticized the new denials as short-sighted, predicting many of the plans would bail out of the program at the first opportunity in 2012. "The administration may be trying to persuade seniors that everything is fine, but the millions of Medicare beneficiaries who will lose their current coverage or see fewer benefits in the coming years will disagree," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in the report.
Altogether, CMS denied 298 proposed rate increases and benefit cuts out of 2,100 bids. "For these plans we said, 'No, you have to do better,'" said CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, in the report. "Despite the claims of some, Medicare Advantage remains strong and a robust option for millions of seniors who choose to enroll or stay in a participating plan today and in the future."
The agency is gearing up payment cuts of $136 billion to Medicare Advantage plans under the healthcare reform law. It is too late for plans to withdraw from the Medicare Advantage program in 2011 and CMS said Medicare Advantage enrollment, now at 11 million, is expected to rise by 5 percent in 2011. But plans that lose money on the program in 2011 can withdraw in 2012.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on Medicare Advantage.
Read more coverage on Medicare Advantage:
- Many Medicare Advantage Plans Wouldn't Qualify for Upcoming Quality Payments Based on Current Data
- CMS Suspends Medicare Advantage Enrollment, Fines Quality Health Plan
- Insurers Face Frozen Medicare Payments for 2011