The Biden administration has finalized its move to slash Medicare Advantage as the 46th president has claimed former President Donald Trump seeks to slash entitlement programs.
The Biden administration on Monday will cut base payments for Medicare Advantage plans by an average of .16 percent despite pressure from Republicans and healthcare experts. This follows Biden making controversial moves in the risk adjusting coding system to allegedly make Medicare Advantage payments more accurate.
Biden’s move would impact more than half of Medicare enrollees, as many American seniors now look to Medicare Advantage for their healthcare needs. American seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage could see their supplemental benefits reduced or cost-sharing increased by $33 a month in 2025, according to experts.
Chris Meekins, an analyst, said, “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.”
Biden’s move to slash Medicare Advantage comes as Trump told Breitbart News he will never touch Social Security or Medicare. This runs contrary to claims from Biden and Democrats that he would cut entitlement programs.
“I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,” Trump explained. “We’ll have to do it elsewhere. But we’re not going to do anything to hurt them.”
As Breitbart News reported, Biden once sponsored a bill that would sunset and subsequently review and reauthorize programs such as Social Security and Medicare:
Further, Biden may have forgotten that he sponsored a bill in 1975, when he was a senator from Delaware, that would have sunset and subsequently required review and reauthorization — or not — of federal programs, which reportedly included Social Security and Medicare. This proposal is remarkably similar to Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) original proposal, which Biden has frequently attacked.
“We must… begin reviewing existing programs to determine whether they are still effective, and whether they are worth the money that we are putting in them. We must eliminate the wasteful ones,” Biden said when introducing the 1975 legislation.
Republicans and conservatives are crying foul about Biden’s axing of Medicare Advantage.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said, “BREAKING: Biden just cut Medicare benefits AGAIN. 2.8 MILLION Florida seniors use Medicare Advantage & Biden’s cuts will cost them an extra $400 per year. Biden’s war on seniors is devastating & I’m fighting like hell to reverse this terrible decision.”
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), said, “The Biden White House attacks me for wanting to fix and save Medicare, meanwhile @JoeBiden is actively cutting Medicare for 33 million seniors.”
FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon said in a statement:
Yesterday, the Biden administration continued their attacks on the private sector option for seniors on Medicare, Medicare Advantage. This is the second cut in two years. This latest round of cuts will cost seniors an extra $33 per month. That’s a $396 per year rate increase for a cohort largely on fixed incomes and still reeling from terrible inflation. Medicare Advantage is so well-liked and so popular, over 50% of seniors – about 33 million – choose it over traditional Medicare. It’s incredible to me the administration is choosing to assault one of the most popular programs for our seniors.
Cutting a program as popular as Medicare Advantage seems out of character for most Democrats, unless these cuts are a necessary stepping stone towards one of their ultimate goals – Medicare for all. Democrats have been upfront about wanting a single-payer, Medicare for all type system. Perhaps Medicare Advantage and its 33 million customers are simply collateral damage in getting there.
Heritage Action wrote, “Biden is cutting Medicare Advantage benefits for 33 million Americans—and hoping they don’t notice until after the November election. Here’s how benefits for seniors are being cut.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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