Republicans back bill to change Medicare Advantage analysis

WASHINGTON — Normally, discussions about how congressional advisers study Medicare spending are quite dry. Not so at the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.

In a party line vote, committee Republicans pushed forward a bill that seeks to change how the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission studies Medicare Advantage spending. In particular, this bill would direct the nonpartisan agency to study the topic of overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans in a manner that’s more favorable to insurers.

Medicare Advantage insurers have come under increased scrutiny in recent years in part for their cost to taxpayers. MedPAC this year estimated that Medicare will pay 14% more per enrollee, or $76 billion in total, to Medicare Advantage plans than it would if those same seniors were covered by traditional Medicare.