XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns

Here we go.
What a SOB.

'Joe Biden Proposes to Underfund Medicare Advantage in Twilight Hours of
His Administration'

<https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/01/13/joe-biden-proposes-to-underfund-medicare-advantage-in-twilight-hours-of-his-administration/>

'President Joe Biden proposed underfunding Medicare Advantage during the
last few weeks of his administration, which could have disastrous
effects for American seniors.

Last Friday, Biden’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
proposed a 2.23 percent increase for the increasingly popular Medicare
option.

The proposed rate increases are lower than the consumer price index’s
(CPI) year-over-year trend for inflation, or 2.7 percent.

In effect, this makes for a net cut of Medicare Advantage, similar to
how the administration slashed Medicare Advantage in 2024.

American seniors have experienced higher premiums and lost their health
plans due to Biden’s prior cuts.

Roughly 1.3 million Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage lost their
health plan due to the Biden Medicare Advantage cuts.

Seniors with Medicare Advantage are experiencing an average premium
increase of more than 10 percent across 19 states.

Median out-of-pocket spending for Advantage plans will increase $400, or
to $5,400 from $5,000.

Biden’s underfunding and prior cuts of Medicare Advantage follow as
prominent Democrats have routinely accused Donald Trump of wanting to
cut entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid.

Medicare Advantage is an increasingly popular healthcare option for
American seniors; 54 percent of those eligible to enroll in Medicare
choose Medicare Advantage over traditional Medicare.

A report from Elevance Health, a major health insurance provider, found
that Medicare Advantage enrollment is linked to lower Medicare spending,
which could help the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lower
spending.

Americans may wonder why the left attacks Medicare Advantage; many
progressives believe that the program could undermine traditional
Medicare.

Progressives such as Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), have voiced similar concerns about Medicare
Advantage’s popularity as a threat to Medicare.

The Bull Moose Project wrote about the benefits of Medicare Advantage
over Medicare:

MA is exactly the model of a government program that works for the
people. It’s one of most successful public-private partnerships in
American history. And because it’s so much more efficient than original Medicare, it helps ensure that the Medicare program will be around for
younger Americans. Research shows that the Medicare program could be
extended by 17 years if original Medicare was more like Medicare
Advantage. [Emphasis added]

In June, then-candidate Trump slammed Biden’s cuts to Medicare.

“I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare, which Joe
Biden is destroying by letting millions of people come into our
country,” Trump said.

The former president continued, “By contrast, Joe Biden has cut Medicare Advantage for the last two years.” He added that this cut is a “total betrayal of seniors.”'

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