STAT+: Democrats urge Republicans to target Medicare Advantage ‘upcoding’ instead of cutting Medicaid
Republicans are considering deep cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts. Democrats say they should go after Medicare Advantage instead.
As Republicans in Congress debate ways to cut Medicaid so they can fund tax breaks, Democrats are pushing them in a different direction: Cut excess spending in Medicare Advantage instead.
Five senators, including Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and 36 lawmakers in the House, told top Republicans Thursday that Medicare Advantage is rife with “wasteful spending.” They specifically called out upcoding, where health insurers make their members appear sicker than they actually are so the government gives them more money.
“Your directive to cut federal health care spending should come from reducing waste, fraud, and abuse like upcoding by for-profit insurance companies, not by cutting health care benefits for American families who rely on Medicaid to make ends meet,” the Democrats wrote in separate letters to Republican leaders Sen. John Thune (S.D.) and Rep. Mike Johnson (La.).
