BMA Asks Congress to Secure Medicare Advantage Benefits in Reform Bill

Better Medicare Alliance has commended Congress for including additional benefits in its proposed Budget Reconciliation plan for Medicare reform and is urging lawmakers to maintain the structure that ensures the protection of Medicare Advantage benefits in the final bill.

The proposed plan introduces vision, dental, and hearing benefits into fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare. The current framework structures the benefits in a way that will support Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries alike.

Better Medicare Alliance highlighted the importance of protecting Medicare Advantage members in a letter addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

More than 45 healthcare organizations co-signed the letter, including the National Hispanic Medical Association, Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Healthcare Leadership Council, and New Jersey State Nurses Association.

Medicare Advantage boasts a 98 percent consumer satisfaction rate and a 43 percent lower rate of avoidable hospitalizations than FFS Medicare, Better Medicare Alliance wrote. Medicare Advantage members are more diverse, have lower incomes, and face increased social determinants of health barriers, according to the letter.

Better Medicare Alliance also noted the $1,600 annual beneficiary savings that Medicare Advantage yields compared to FFS Medicare.

Medicare Advantage provides coverage to nearly 27 million beneficiaries including around half of all eligible Black and Latinx beneficiaries, the letter stated. These plans offer additional benefits compared to Traditional Medicare plans and can help offset any coverage gaps.

For this reason, Better Medicare Alliance and its co-signers want Congress to ensure that any additional benefits included in the Medicare reform Budget Reconciliation package will benefit all Medicare beneficiaries, not just fee-for-service beneficiaries.

“With a proportionally more diverse beneficiary population and added benefits that meaningfully address social determinants of health, protecting Medicare Advantage is fundamentally a matter of health equity,” Juliet Choi, president and chief executive officer of Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, stated in the accompanying press release.

“APIAHF commends Congress for taking steps to enhance benefits in fee-for-service Medicare. At the same time, we must be careful not to impede Medicare Advantage’s ability to continue closing gaps in health disparities and reaching underserved populations and communities of color with needed care. Any changes to Medicare must be implemented in ways that lift up all beneficiaries, regardless of their choice in Medicare coverage.”

The reconciliation bill reflects the cost of vision, dental, and hearing benefits in the Medicare Advantage benchmark calculation. Better Medicare Alliance stressed the importance of maintaining this inclusion in the final bill to ensure that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries do not lose any supplemental benefits.

Benefits that address medical and social needs may be at risk if Congress does not continue to prioritize Medicare Advantage members’ needs in the final bill.

Medicare Advantage beneficiaries may have access to resources such as meals, transportation services, and wellness programs through their plans. Congress has structured the additional fee-for-service benefits in a way that will not affect these supplemental benefits, and Better Medicare Alliance is urging them to uphold this structure.

Better Medicare Alliance and its allies are also asking Congress to secure the benefits and keep out-of-pocket costs low for Medicare Advantage members who already receive dental, vision, and hearing coverage through their health plan.

“No beneficiary should be met with reduced benefits or higher costs, especially now as they continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nick Loporcaro, chief executive of Landmark Health, a co-signer of the letter, stressed in the press release.

“We recognize the importance of adding these benefits to FFS Medicare, and only ask that such changes not be made on the backs of vulnerable Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.”