It's long been established that the older you get, the more likely you are to vote. Winning over seniors is as important as winning independent voters because they are the most reliable voting group. There are a variety of factors as to why this is the case, but seniors' status as recipients of Social Security and Medicare is a huge reason for it. If they're convinced one candidate is going to mess with their benefits over the other, they will vote accordingly.
With that in mind, it's a little strange that Joe Biden, who is already having a problem in the polls, has decided to cut Medicare Advantage Benefits.
"The Biden administration on Monday followed through on its proposal to cut next year's base payments to Medicare Advantage plans an average of 0.16%, despite pressure from insurers and their allies in Congress," reports Axios. "The base pay decrease stems from the continued phase-in of controversial changes to the risk adjustment coding system the Biden administration started last year to make [Medicare Advantage] payments more accurate."
According to Axios, this could be a boon to insurance companies. "Insurers get more money if their enrollees have more documented health issues, and the policy changes aimed to stop abuses of that system," the report explains. "But the health plans maintain that's akin to cutting seniors' benefits."
I'm all for spending less money, but I'm also not convinced that the Biden administration is as concerned about saving money as they are about reallocating resources from American citizens to illegal immigrants. Whenever a Democrat talks about saving money by cutting something, it's really about spending it elsewhere, and with all the illegals that have been coming in, it stands to reason that they're going to reap the rewards of this change to Medicare Advantage.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the plans are anticipated to see an average payment increase of 3.7%, which is approximately $16 billion after taking risk scores into account. Biden's team appears to be hoping that the beneficiaries won't realize what's about to happen until after Election Day. That will be an interesting trick, as the report explained that many seniors are going to see these changes when they renew their plans in the fall.
"President Biden's team is gambling that MA beneficiaries won't realize before the election the benefits Biden's team is causing them to lose come January 2025," Raymond James analyst Chris Meekins told Axios.
Something tells me that Donald Trump will do everything possible to remind them, though.
"These policies will put even more pressure on the benefits and premiums of 33 million Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who will be renewing their coverage this fall," explained Mike Tuffin, CEO of the insurer trade group AHIP.
But it could potentially be a bigger problem for Joe Biden, as these changes are likely to hurt the same constituencies he's struggling to hold on to this year.
Compared to traditional Medicare beneficiaries in 2021, Medicare Advantage enrollees were more likely to be Black or Hispanic, have incomes below $20,000 per person, live in urban areas, and have lower levels of education (Figure 3, Appendix Table 1). In addition, dual-eligible individuals account for a larger share of Medicare Advantage enrollees (22%) than traditional Medicare beneficiaries (16%).
"Biden’s war on seniors is disastrous – especially for seniors on fixed incomes who are already struggling with skyrocketing inflation," Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in a statement. "The takeaway from Biden’s actions is clear: Democrats don’t give a damn about the 2.8 MILLION Florida seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage who will see costs go up by nearly $400 a year."
Now you understand why the administration has been trying to keep this change quiet, and the mainstream media, of course, hasn't called attention to it either. It'll be on us to make sure they know.
