Over the past few weeks, Medicare Advantage insurers demanded that the Biden administration give them higher payment rates for next year. The government’s data on how much people were using health care didn’t match their own data, insurers and lobbyists griped — and therefore they wouldn’t be paid enough to cover those costs.
But the federal government was not persuaded by the industry’s data or lobbying push. The Biden administration and its Medicare agency decided to stick with their proposals from January on Monday, dealing a blow to an insurance industry that has come to rely on Medicare Advantage for a steady stream of profits.
The result: In 2025, right after a new president is elected, Medicare Advantage insurers will have to absorb a slight decrease of 0.2% to the baseline payment rates that insurers receive from the government for enrolling older adults and people with disabilities. The stock prices of the largest Medicare Advantage insurers — UnitedHealth, Humana, CVS Health, and Elevance Health — all fell by at least 4% in after-hours trading.