Democrats recently took to the House floor to express concern about the impact on seniors of a new 5.9 percent cut to Medicare Advantage proposed by the Medicare agency. Members of Congress participating included Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL), Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Rep. John Barrow (D-GA), Rep. Ron Barber (D-AZ), Rep. William Enyart (D-IL), Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL), and Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA). A bipartisan group of over 270 members of Congress have expressed concern about the proposed cuts in letters, op-eds, and floor speeches. Click on the image below to check out this new video that shows highlights from the floor speeches:
Check out this recent article in The Hill to read more about the floor speeches.
You can read a full transcript of the speeches here.
These legislators add to the growing number of voices raising concerns about the impact of proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage and urging CMS to protect seniors, including a broad array of stakeholders and seniors across the country mobilizing to protect their benefits.
Final Medicare Advantage payment rates will be announced on April 7, 2014. Seniors are following this issue closely and will be watching to see if Washington protects them from further cuts to their Medicare Advantage benefits. Seniors will see the impact of any new payment cuts in late October 2014, when they begin enrolling in their 2015 Medicare Advantage coverage.
AHIP’s Coalition for Medicare Choices (CMC) recently launched an advocacy campaign to urge the Medicare agency to protect seniors by maintaining current Medicare Advantage payment rates for 2015. The campaign includes television, digital, print, and display advertising in key markets around the country and in Washington, D.C. and grassroots mobilization of CMC’s 1.5 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. To learn more, visit www.MedicareChoices.org, check out the CMC’s new Tumblr page, and follow the coalition on Twitter (@ProtectMyMA) and Facebook.