The Biden administration previously had made cuts to Medicare Advantage rates, including in April 2024, when experts said enrollees would face an additional $33 a month for out-of-pocket costs, or $396 a year, due to the cuts. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Roughly two weeks before leaving office, the Biden administration rolled out its final regulation affecting Medicare Advantage, which did not outright cut rates as it did for 2024 and 2025, but increased the average benchmark payment to Medicare Advantage plans by 2.2%.
The proposal, however, seemingly works as another cut and underfunds Medicare Advantage because the proposed rates are still lower than the current rate of inflation, Buerkle said, with the consumer price index showing a 12-month inflation rate of 2.7%. The proposal also comes on the heels of the Biden administration finalizing a 1.12% cut for fiscal year 2024 and a 0.16% cut for fiscal year 2025.
TRUMP PUTS BIDEN ON DEFENSE FOR MEDICARE ADVANTAGE CUTS
"Underfunding for Medicare Advantage will result in higher premiums, more out-of-pocket costs, and higher deductibles for the 34 million Americans who choose Medicare Advantage," Buerkle told Fox News Digital. "This, on top of the inflation that the Biden Administration caused by their flagrant spending creates a difficult situation for those seniors on a fixed income."
A Trump administration official told Fox Digital that staffers are reviewing Biden administration proposals and polices skeptically, but that no policy has been set in stone related to Medicare Advantage. (Getty Images)
Former Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindall, who served as an advisor to the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush's administration, published an op-ed for Fox Digital in December 2024, warning against the Biden administration issuing any last-minute Medicare Advantage cuts ahead of Trump taking back the Oval Office.
"Over the past two years, the administration has implemented a series of changes that have effectively reduced funding for Medicare Advantage," he wrote. "These cuts are disguised as 'payment adjustments,' but the reality is clear: they are cutting funding for a program that seniors overwhelmingly support. The results? Higher premiums, reduced benefits, and narrower provider networks for many Medicare Advantage enrollees."
Jindall added that Medicare Advantage can be improved to better serve seniors and other enrollees, but he argued "the left" has resisted improving the system in favor of promoting a government-focused program.
"Members in both parties have called for modifying the calculation of risk adjustments, to improve a system that can be gamed and often rewards companies for documenting patient acuity rather than actually improving outcomes," he wrote. "But, the left does not want to improve Medicare Advantage — they want to undermine the program to advance their long-term goal of centralizing more health care under the government’s control."
A Trump administration official told Fox Digital that staffers are reviewing Biden administration proposals and polices skeptically but that no policy has been set in stone related to Medicare Advantage.
Trump joined House Republican lawmakers in Florida on Jan. 27, when he vowed not to cut Medicare or Social Security.
"I will not sign any bill that cuts even a single penny from Medicare or Social Security for our great seniors. We don't have to do that. We don't have to do that. We'll not touch those benefits in any way, shape or form. I want to use that because during the campaign, they had these fake ads that Trump is going to cut Social Security," he said.
President Donald Trump, left, joined House Republican lawmakers in Florida on Jan. 27, when he vowed not to cut Medicare or Social Security. Roughly two weeks before leaving office, the administration of former President Joe Biden, right, rolled out its final regulation affecting Medicare Advantage. (Getty Images)
Buerkle previously spoke to Fox News Digital that the Biden administration’s cuts for 2024–2025 served as a backdoor attempt to gut Medicare Advantage in an effort to promote "Medicare for All," a government-focused health system that has long been on a policy wishlist for left-wing lawmakers.
Buerkle said the Biden admin’s latest and last policy proposal on Medicare Advantage "absolutely" serves as another backdoor attempt to push Medicare for All.
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"Medicare for All advocates despise the success of Medicare Advantage because it reveals the flaws in a government-run managed care system," she said. "The goal is simple: destroy MA as a means to get to Medicare for All."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-handed-opportunity-to-save-medicare-after-biden-admins-final-blow-seniors-expert