Senate committee finds Medicare Advantage overpayments cost seniors billions

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

03/13/26 6:19 PM ET


A report by the Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC) found that overpayments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans caused Medicare Part B premiums to rise for all beneficiaries, including those on Traditional Medicare (TM).

According to the JEC’s report, overpayments to MA plans caused standard monthly Medicare Part B premiums to go from $185 in 2025 to $203 in 2026.

In 2025, MA plans were paid $84 billion more than it would have cost to cover the same amount of beneficiaries with TM plans, an average of 120 percent more.

The report defined “overpayments” as the difference between what the federal government paid for MA plans versus Traditional Medicare (TM) plans. When payments to MA plans exceeds those for TM plans, premiums go up for both groups.

Read more: https://thehill.com/newsletters/health-care/5783713-senate-committee-finds-medicare-advantage-overpayments-cost-seniors-billions/

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Link to Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC) PRESS RELEASE - JEC Brief Finds Medicare Advantage Overpayments Causing Increased Premiums for All Seniors

Link to Senate Joint Economic Committee (JEC) REPORT BRIEF (PDF) - https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/vendor/_accounts/JEC-R/issue-briefs/The%20Part%20B%20Premium%20Pass-Through.pdf

[Rhiannon12866]

1. (DU member) Thom Hartmann has been posting warnings about Medicare "Advantage" for years

According to the endless commercials urging seniors to sign up, the deadline was December 7th, but the commercials still haven't quit like they did before, they've started all over again.

[Demobrat]

2. They used to concentrate on open enrollment.

Which is when people can switch plans. But they figured out people turn 65 throughout the year and they don’t want to miss anybody.

[Bengus81]

7. Yeah..but in the fall they run the SCAM that in mid-Dec you will no longer be able

to get a plan or switch till next fall--total 100% LIES. Hell...mine got so outrageously high with that AARP con job United Health care I had to cancel.

I'm also giving AARP the boot when my sub runs out it August. Those fuckers don't give a shit about seniors other than to sell them a supplement plan and life insurance and a yearly subscription.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Agree with Demobrat

The enrollment outside of the typical "open enrollment period", can correspond to a "life change", as in someone turning 65, and that is continually happening year round (with the threat of a "use (sign up) or lose" if you don't apply on time and end up with a penalty! You might also have someone over 65 and still working, who switches jobs and the coverage changes, etc.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I guess I misspoke. Thom Hartmann has warned folks for years that the "Advantage" is a ripofff

[BumRushDaShow]

5. It definitely is

and that (under it's current name "Medicare Advantage" as a change from what Clinton had enacted almost decade earlier) was all a Shrub production as a trade-off for getting Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug coverage for Medicare).

[JT45242]

6. Wait not somali immigrants but corporate cheaters and lobbyists

As a great character one said
INCONCEIVABLE!!!!!!

[mdbl]

8. If they could make MA plans cover things properly

It would still be cheaper than regular medicare and having to pay a supplement plan to cover what medicare won't. Medicare part A only covers 80% and no doctor bills. Having to pay 20% of a hospital would be a life-breaker for most people. Supplemental plans cost an additional $2000 or more per year on top of the part B expense. It's all a ripoff. Of course, a universal health care plan would work best.

[progree]

9. In case anyone else can't access the article

https://archive.ph/12xZK

For me, the OP link gets me on the article page, but a big banner pops up asking me to subscribe to The Hill's Health Newsletter, and when I click on "No Thanks", it takes me to The Hill's front page. I browser-searched that for "Medicare" with no hits.

There isn't much additional in the article beyond what is excerpted in the OP.

[PSPS]

10. And part of that ripoff gets laundered back to republicans as "campaign contributions"