Medicare update: List of lawmakers pushing for major changes via new bill

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Newsweek

A group of House Democrats has introduced legislation that would make some of the most significant changes to Medicare Advantage in years.

The Save MEDICARE Act of 2026 (H.R. 9544), introduced by Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett, is looking to tighten oversight of Medicare Advantage plans and overhaul payment formulas while increasing audits and recovering MA overpayments.

The lawmakers say that private insurers have been receiving billions of dollars in excessive payments while traditional Medicare is facing growing financial pressure.

“Despite their early claims of greater efficiency and lower costs, Medicare Advantage has never saved a penny. It actually costs taxpayers more each year while offering consumers less. This unjustified, costly advantage private Medicare Advantage insurers receive must be ended to save taxpayers and end the disadvantage for Traditional Medicare,” Doggett said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/medicare-update-list-of-lawmakers-pushing-for-major-changes-via-new-bill/ar-AA27p8f6

[ananda]

1. Doggett is my rep.

Wellwellwell

He is still breathing.

[PATRICK]

2. Advantage Plans already

in trouble. What else is in the bill beside the dead horse? Make coverage harder for seniors in general to get at "waste" and "overcharges" already destroying itself? Some companies own the provider companies as well. And the whole idea of the wholesale medical charges nobody pays hiding what is going on to begin with.

[pat_k]

3. It's about time to have something to lobby for and run on.

[Dr. T]

4. I've never trusted Medicare Advantage plans.

Too good to be true. No premiums, blah, blah, blah.

When I became Medicare-eligible, I went with traditional Medicare and a supplement.

[Old Crank]

5. The woman in charge of Medicare earns

Well under $500k. Medicare Advantage CEOs rake in millions.
No reason for them to earn more than the head of Medicare. They do less.

[MadameButterfly]

13. Privatization was always about grift and the myth

that "socialism" wastes money.

[Biophilic]

6. A friend stopped by this moring and was telling me about a neighbor of hers.

She was getting the Medicare Advantage shuffle. The woman is a republican, as is her husband, who is considerably older and has numerous serious conditions. Med Advantage has pulled back from paying for his doctor bills etc. She's having to find a new doctor. Has been told that would be 7 months. She was upset, to say the least. My friend didn't say much until she was with me when she just let loose. The neighbor had spent hours saying how great Med Advantage was. My friend has stuff with her regular Medicare. She felt very vindicated.

Those bastards just keep raking in the money while giving as little out as possible and the amount seems to be getting smaller and smaller.
There is part of me that is a bit smug cause I talked my friend into doing just regular Medicare, but I still feel badly for people who thought they were going to be taken care of. It's just plain wrong. I hate the insurance companies.

[Stargazer99]

8. and yet they tell you capitalism is the great system only they forgot to tell you only for the capitalist

[xuplate]

7. The Advantage option is a huge scam.

Ask a nurse and they will tell you Original Medicare is the Cadillac of insurance.

[BidenRocks]

9. Doesn't Sellick push that crap?

That and reverse mortgages.
Dignity dies first!

[Pinback]

10. Good

Every time this subject comes up, we hear from several DUers who report that their experience with M.A. is peachy, and I say, Good for them. The problem is people whose plan screws them over or shortchanges them in ways that regular Medicare would not. And of course M.A. is part of the creeping privatization that Republicans want to foist on us.

Consumer finance expert Clark Howard has some thoughts about Medicare Advantage:
https://clark.com/insurance/health-insurance/medicare-advantage-plans/

Why I Think Medicare Advantage Plans Stink
(Excerpt)
About half of people who are eligible for Medicare choose Advantage plans for any of a number of reasons. And many people are happy with the Advantage plans they’ve picked. In fact, every time I say something negative about them, I hear from people who are upset with me because they are beyond thrilled with the Advantage plan they chose.

My objections are simple. Once you are in an Advantage plan, it’s difficult to switch to regular Medicare. After your first 11 months, in most states, you can’t easily buy a supplement without passing a medical evaluation. And you likely will have trouble switching to a competitor’s Advantage plan if yours turns out to be a bad choice.

In other words, you could end up being a prisoner of the Advantage plan you pick at 65 for the rest of your life — even if it turns out to be crummy or becomes rotten over time. In my opinion, this is a fatal flaw of Medicare Advantage plans. You could also end up with a serious illness, and the choice of doctors and facilities you are allowed under your particular Advantage plan could be the difference between life and death. With traditional Medicare, you have many more options to seek out the best care, best specialists and best hospitals for your illness.

Yes, traditional Medicare is more difficult to understand and buy upfront. Your premiums may even be higher. But you are your own boss of your healthcare. With Medicare Advantage, understand that the insurer makes money by limiting your care and your options.

That lower cost could kill you.

[mdbl]

11. They need to get rid of the Part B expense

It's shit that we pay into medicare all our life then have to pay again in retirement. Throwing everyone off Advantage Plans and forcing them to find Part G or N at great expense is no better of an option for most people. Part B + a Medigap plan will run the average person $450 a month or more. This doesn't even include coverage for medication. That's not better IMO.

[lonely bird]

12. Waste, Fraud & Abuse️

Start with a pound of flesh from the criminal, Rick Scott.

[FrndStrng]

14. Thanks misanthrope

John Oliver
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220752613