John,

Corporate health insurers have been conducting a stealth takeover of our Medicare system, under the guise of “Medicare Advantage.” Over the past year, the degree to which Medicare Advantage plans are costing taxpayers more for worse health outcomes¹ has led activists to call Medicare Advantage plans “killer plans.”

Now, the Biden administration is taking steps to discourage seniors from joining these killer plans―but corporate insurance lobbyists are fighting tooth and nail. Can you take a few minutes to fight back and protect seniors?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is collecting comments from the public in support of its rate increase for privatized Medicare plans―which would help keep corporate insurers from undercutting traditional Medicare. Corporate lobbyists are making their voices heard, so we need to be even louder by flooding the comment site with our voices.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Go to the comment page on Regulations.gov
   https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CMS-2023-0010-0001
   

2. Copy one of these sample comments, and either submit it as is or personalize it.
   Comment one:
   I strongly support the CMS proposed 1 percent rate increase for Medicare Advantage plans in 2024. It is an important step towards eliminating billions of dollars in waste, keeping Part B premiums in check, protecting the integrity of the Medicare Trust Fund and strengthening Medicare.
   Comment two:
   The proposed rate increase ends some of the MA upcoding that wrongly drives up Medicare Advantage plan payments. This upcoding allows the Medicare Advantage plans to make their enrollees look sicker than they are and earn additional revenue, even though they do not provide additional services or incur additional costs for those members.
   Comment three:
   We stand behind this proposed one percent increase and urge CMS to finalize it. If anything, the proposed rate increase does not go far enough to eliminate waste and address overpayments to MA plans, which is weakening the Medicare program. MedPAC says that the excess payments in MA are $27 billion this year alone, six percent higher than Traditional Medicare. Other experts find that they are closer to 20 percent higher.  

3. Enter your contact information and Press Submit!

This isn’t as simple as some of the other actions we ask you to take―but it’s very important. These messages go directly to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services!

Thank you,

Alex Lawson
Social Security Works

¹ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage-fraud-allegations.html