Enrollment In Medicare Advantage Increases, Defies GOP’s Doomsday Predictions Of Mass Coverage Loss
By Igor Volsky on Sep 12, 2011 at 2:05 pm
One of the most common Republican narratives during the health care reform debate argued that lowering the subsidy to private insurers participating in Medicare Advantage would force companies to stop offering coverage, causing 10 million seniors to lose their Medicare benefits. Republicans introduced numerous amendments instructing Congress to remove the cuts to the Medicare Advantage program and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) even urged seniors to rip up their AARP cardsin protest of the organization’s support for the reductions.
But on Friday, a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the GOP’s dire predictions are not coming true. In fact, “enrollment in Medicare Advantage continued to rise despite changes in the law that froze Medicare Advantage payment rates to 2010 levels”:
