Changing the rules surrounding Medicare Advantage plan
pay rates could stave off Medicare insolvency by 18 months, an actuary with the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told a House subcommittee Tuesday.
Recent reports have suggested that Medicare will go broke
in early 2019, but paying MA plans at the same rate as traditional Medicare
would reduce overall Medicare spending. That would extend the program by a year
and a half, said Richard Foster, actuary for CMS. He testified before the House
Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.
Foster also told the subcommittee that the 10-year cost
projection for the Medicare prescription drug benefit is 37% less than analysts
had originally anticipated. That is due mostly to lower drug spending
estimates, lower-than-expected enrollment and increased competition among drug
plans. Members of the subcommittee said they would like to see these
competition-based reforms applied to other aspects of the Medicare program
to decrease spending.