House and Senate letters expressing bipartisan support for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program recently were finalized and sent to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). These letters were delivered as CMS is entering a key stage of the MA Rate Setting and Call Letter Process for 2020.
A total of 302 House members signed the bipartisan House letter, urging CMS to “ensure that the Medicare Advantage program will continue to offer affordable, high-quality, patient-centered coverage options.” Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), and Mike Kelly (R-PA) led this effort.
Sixty-six senators signed the bipartisan Senate letter led by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). This letter states: “For plan year 2020, we encourage the Administration to propose policies that promote innovation, provide predictable funding to support long-term, value-based arrangements, and ensure that any substantive changes include sufficient time for thorough evaluation and stakeholder engagement.”