Comment on CMS-2026-2377-0001
Lauren MetterleOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the proposed payment policies, arguing that they are a short-sighted method of controlling spending that will lead to poorer patient health and higher long-term costs. They suggest that the government should focus on consolidation and better policy design rather than reducing payments to Medicare Advantage plans.
This is a short sighted method that attempts to control spending by just simply not paying for services. Imagine as a citizen saying “I am going to curb my monthly spending by just taking the groceries and not paying for them because the grocery stores already make enough money on other people who pay.” What actually would improve Medicare spending is consolidation for improved control rather than needlessly giving money away to private payors for so called “Medicare Advantage plans” where they just skim MEDICARE money for themselves and their admin salaries and dole out little benefits to patients and restrict care. How does that increase CMS spending? Well when patients are denied appropriate care by Medicare advantage plans then their health deteriorates. What could have been prevented turns into a high acuity and costly health issue. Patients who are denied care by their Medicare advantage plans then go broke paying out of pocket. Then they ultimately end up on Medicaid as a safety net and then CMS still foots the bill for their now higher acuity care there thereby draining the pot. You know there are counselors at nursing homes that actually GUIDE families on exactly this type of behavior? Stop giving away the pot to these private plans. Then there will actually be more money in the Medicare pool to spend on appropriate and preventative care and then patient’s health status won’t suffer and then CMS won’t be stuck with the higher bill. Stop trying to fix a complex issue with an overly simplified and ridiculous “well we just won’t pay and then it will not cost as much” mentality. Use the brilliant economists and health care policy experts in this country to design an effective system. This one clearly isn’t working and it’s a reflection of the POOR government decision making. Step up and do something that is ethically right by your citizens.