In a sudden about-face, federal health officials are ditching proposed Medicare Advantage cuts and instead increasing payment by 3.3 percent, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced yesterday. CMS also said it will continue to pay Medicare Advantage plans based on quality.
The turnaround follows pleas from roughly 40,000 seniors and a widespread campaign from America's Health Insurance Plans to persuade lawmakers and regulators to stop the proposed cuts. If the proposed 2.2 percent cuts had taken effect, insurers providing Medicare Advantage plans could have lost a total of $11 billion. Announcement