Stop the Medicare Advantage Squeeze Before Seniors Pay the Price

 In a federal system riddled with inefficiency, Medicare Advantage stands out as a rare success story protecting the wallet and improving the health of 35 million seniors and people with disabilities who rely on it.

Congress created Medicare Advantage in 1997 to improve healthcare for seniors and control spending through market forces. Today more than half of America’s seniors rely on it. Public polling consistently shows satisfaction rates with Medicare Advantage hovering around 95 percent. That success story is now at risk.

At the beginning of each year, the government publishes its advanced rate notice on how much it will invest in Medicare Advantage plans the following year.  Last month the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a nearly flat rate for Medicare Advantage plans in 2027. This amounts to a massive cut since national health care spending rose by 7.2 percent in 2024 and is projected to grow another 7.1 percent in 2025. When payments lag this far behind actual medical cost growth, the shortfall shows up in higher premiums, reduced benefits, and fewer plan choices for seniors.

We’ve already seen what happens when Washington squeezes this program. The Biden administration cut Medicare Advantage funding by roughly $130 billion over two years, triggering predictable results: plans trimmed supplemental benefits, increased cost-sharing, narrowed provider networks, and in some cases exited markets entirely. The program has little capacity left to absorb another effective cut without exacerbating the turbulence driven by Biden‑era cuts – ultimately leaving seniors to face a crisis of shrinking choices and eroding benefits.

Benefits that matter deeply to seniors – hearing aids, dental care, transportation to appointments, gym memberships, meal services – are often the first to go when plans are forced to cut.

Smaller, regional, and innovative plans are hit hardest by abrupt payment shifts. Large national carriers may be able to absorb volatility. Local plans cannot. The result is consolidation, reduced competition, and fewer tailored options for seniors, especially in rural and underserved communities.

And remember: seniors are uniquely vulnerable to inflation. Younger workers eventually see wages adjust. Seniors on fixed incomes and families who support them do not. Cutting coverage for seniors under these circumstances is especially indefensible, because the program has been a stable, predictable cost while everything else has become more expensive as a direct result of inflation driven by Washington’s excessive spending and money‑printing under Biden.

But, for Democrats, the turmoil is the point. There’s no bigger threat to the socialist healthcare-for-all fantasy than a stable and competitive free market alternative. Republicans should not fall into their trap of making Medicare Advantage a scapegoat for the failures of socialized healthcare.

There is also a political reality here that Republicans ignore at their peril. Medicare Advantage open enrollment begins in mid-October. If seniors receive notices weeks before an election informing them that their premiums are rising, their networks are shrinking, or their dental benefits are disappearing, they will blame the party in charge.

The Trump administration has repeatedly pledged to both protect and strengthen Medicare. That commitment helped build trust with older voters who value stability and results. The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda focuses on tackling the real cost drivers in health care – from excessive hospital pricing to skyrocketing prescription drug costs – while incentivizing prevention and healthier living. Undermining Medicare Advantage now risks squandering those gains.

We should be strengthening what works, not destabilizing it. Modernization and oversight are appropriate. Risk adjustment formulas can be refined. Fraud and abuse should always be addressed. But cutting Medicare Advantage won’t solve these challenges – it will erode the very market incentives that drive better outcomes for 35 million American seniors.

By adjusting the 2027 rate to reflect real-world medical cost growth, President Trump has an opportunity to send a clear message to our nation’s seniors. Republicans in Congress should make the case directly to the White House and to CMS. Seniors and caregivers should make their voices heard with their elected representatives. Now is the time for all stakeholders to speak up.

Seniors chose Medicare Advantage because it delivers value, security, and dignity. They made America great - working, paying taxes, and defending our freedoms abroad. Washington should not upend the mechanisms that keep them healthy.

Saul Anuzis is the president of the 60 Plus Association.

https://www.realclearhealth.com/articles/2026/02/26/stop_the_medicare_advantage_squeeze_before_seniors_pay_the_price_1167395.html