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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led 45 of her House Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) urging the agency to reevaluate the proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for 2025 that will harm seniors and requests additional transparency into how the decision to cut Medicare Advantage was made.

In the letter, the members write: “In addition to lower costs for seniors, Medicate Advantage plans offer out-of-pocket spending limits, care coordination, and additional benefits such as dental, vision, and prescription coverage—often with no additional premiums. This is possible because robust competition and choices that enable our constituents to choose from among MA plans that compete to provide additional benefits and services at lower costs than government-run FFS Medicare.”

The members continue: “Given this record of success, it is baffling that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a nearly 0.2% cut to the Medicare Advantage insurer reimbursement rate for 2025. This is in addition to the 1.12% cuts MA took in 2024. As a result, insurers offering MA plans are already signaling that plan benefits may be cut which will undermine the program and hurt seniors.”

The members conclude: “It is out of concern for our constituents that we request that CMS reevaluate the proposed MA cuts for 2025. The stability and quality of the hugely successful MA program should not be put in jeopardy by these proposed cuts.”

To read the full letter, click here.

Background

Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are very popular with seniors and now account for a majority (51%) of Medicare enrollees. This is largely because MA plans provide lower costs for seniors, contain out-of-pocket spending limits, allow better care coordination, and provide additional benefits such as dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits—often without additional premiums. MA plans are proof that the private market can provide a better product at a lower cost than the government-run traditional fee-for-service Medicare.

CMS recently proposed a nearly 0.2% cut to the MA insurer reimbursement rate for 2025 which comes on the heels of the 1.12% cuts MA took in 2024. According to recent analysis medical inflation will increase by 4% to 6% in 2025, while payments to MA plans will decrease by nearly 0.2%. This cut means that beneficiaries may experience an average $33 reduction in the value of supplemental benefits, premiums, and cost sharing per month, and more complex populations may experience a higher reduction of $50 per month.

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