With ‘Waste’ on Trump Agenda, Could MA Rebate Overhaul Be on the Table?
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Nov 21, 2024
Rebates paid to Medicare Advantage plans that bid below the benchmark reached $65.8 billion in 2024 and are projected to total $1.1 trillion over the next decade, according to the 2024 Medicare Board of Trustees Report. While those rebates must be used to lower premiums, reduce cost sharing or enhance benefits for MA enrollees, what if such resources were reallocated to fund extra benefits such as healthy foods and dental care for all Medicare beneficiaries?
That’s a central question posed by researchers in a new article, “The Opportunity Costs of Medicare Advantage Plan Rebates,” published Oct. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Comparing the total projected rebate dollars for 2024 from the Trustees report, with the projected costs of funding extra benefits for all Medicare beneficiaries, the article’s authors estimated that a “package of expanded benefits could be made available to all Medicare beneficiaries for less” than what would be spent on rebates in 2029.
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