Senate committee finds Medicare Advantage overpayments cost seniors billions

Senate committee finds Medicare Advantage overpayments cost seniors billions 

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. 

Medicare Part B covers medically necessary services like doctors’ visits, supplies and some outpatient prescriptions as well as preventive services. Roughly 63 million people are enrolled in Medicare Part B and a little more than half are on MA plans, which combines both Part A and Part B. 

The burden of MA overpayments is spread unevenly across the country, according to the report, as some districts and states have lower rates of MA enrollment.

The report gave the example of Wyoming, where only 21 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA, estimating that payers in the state will pay $25.4 million in excess premiums, with most of that from TM enrollees.

Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, I’m Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Trump proposes to loosen rules for cancer-causing gas from sterilizer plants

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Food stamp recipients sue USDA over restrictions on candy, energy drinks

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Newsom fires back at Trump over post calling dyslexia ‘mental disorder’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday went after President Trump over a post calling dyslexia a “mental disorder.” In a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday evening, Trump said that Newsom “said, in a speech, he was dumb, had low Boards, can’t read, has dyslexia, and has a mental disorder — A Cognitive Mess!” Newsom fired back at Trump on the social platform X, saying, “I spoke about my dyslexia.” “I know that’s …

Branch out with a different read:

1 in 3 say they cut back elsewhere to pay for health care: Survey

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Local and state headlines on health care:

Oregon Health Authority identifies Gresham grocery store as latest measles exposure site (Oregon Public Broadcasting) 

Montana health officials double down on summer launch of Medicaid work requirements (Montana Free Press) 

Michigan Senate passes medical debt bills (Michigan Public) 

Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:

Medicare Advantage ‘dark money’ group attempts to win higher payments for insurance companies (KFF Health News) 

Major changes to cardiovascular guidelines suggest taking statins as young as 30 (Stat) 

Organ donation guidance from CMS warns against coercion, rushed decision-making (MedPage Today) 

Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill:

Measles is the imminent threat America should be concerned about

The new SNAP retailer rule falls short — but we can still fix it

You’re all caught up. See you next week! 

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