Protect Medicare’s Future: Hold Medicare Advantage Insurance Companies Accountable for Rising Health Care Costs

The Medicare Advantage (MA) program — now covering more than 33 million older adults — was created to deliver higher-quality, more coordinated care at a lower cost. Yet unchecked corporate profiteering within the program has resulted in the program driving significant wasteful spending and undermines Medicare’s promise to seniors and taxpayers alike. Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must act now to hold MA insurers accountable, restore fairness to the payment system, and protect the future of Medicare for today’s seniors and generations to come.

In this paper, Families USA pulls back the curtain on the MA business model and puts forward six solutions to rein in MA overpayments, stop industry abuses, and restore integrity and fairness to the program.