Prognosis
Medicare Watchdog Warns of $12 Billion in Excess Payments
- Advisory panel says payments to private plans need overhaul
- Medicare Advantage fuels growth at health insurers, startups
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Medicare Advantage is leading the U.S. government to spend billions more on seniors’ medical care than it should and needs a significant makeover, a nonpartisan watchdog said in a report to lawmakers.
The program collected $12 billion in “excess payments” in 2020 over what the U.S. would have paid to cover people who used the private plans under standard Medicare, according to a report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, released Tuesday.