Scott-Sinema Medicare Advantage Letter

September XX, 2021
The Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

Administrator
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
7500 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21244
Dear Administrator Brooks-LaSure:
We write to express our support for the Medicare Advantage (MA) program and our commitment
to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure the program
continues to provide high-quality, affordable care to over 26 million seniors and enrollees with
disabilities who qualify for Special Needs Plans.1
Medicare beneficiaries, including many in rural communities, have access to more MA coverage
options nationwide today than at any time during the last decade.2 MA’s consistently high rates
of beneficiary satisfaction and its growing enrollment are a demonstration of its value. Today,
MA provides coverage to approximately 42 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries across the
country, with enrollment in over half of the U.S. states meeting or exceeding this national
average.
Payment stability is critical to protecting and strengthening this popular choice for seniors,
particularly since these seniors have paid into the Medicare program and expect to continue to
receive the excellent, reasonably priced care offered by MA. As Congress and the
administration work together to find opportunities to promote better access to care and reduce
costs, ensuring that MA’s care delivery model remains strong and stable should remain a
priority. The MA program is essential to fulfilling the CMS’s commitment to improving and
delivering high-quality, accessible, affordable, and equitable care choices to Medicare
beneficiaries.
MA delivers first-rate coverage to an increasingly diverse population. According to a recent
analysis, growth in MA enrollment from 2009 to 2018 was greatest among Black and Latino
Americans, as well as, individuals dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The latter group
currently accounts for 31 percent of MA beneficiaries from a racial or ethnic minority, compared
with 21 percent of racial or ethnic minority beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Fee-for-Service
(FFS).3 Diversity in enrollment is partly growing in response to the comprehensive benefits MA
offers to its beneficiaries, including an expansion of zero premium plans, the addition of
supplemental benefits aimed at addressing social determinants of health, and the establishment
of Special Needs Plans.
1
https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-
Reports/MCRAdvPartDEnrolData
2
https://connect.kff.org/medicare-advantage-enrollment-has-more-than-doubled-over-the-past-decade-
see-the-latest-data-and-trends
3
David J. Meyers, Vincent Mor, Momotazur Rahman, and Amal N. Trivedi. Growth in Medicare
Advantage Greatest Among Black And Hispanic Enrollees. Health Affairs, 40, no. 6 (2021): 945-950.
The increasing participation in MA of Black, Latino, and dual-eligible individuals underscores the
critical importance of continuing to support coverage options that address the unique needs of a
diverse beneficiary population and further improve health equity.4
The comprehensive and innovative MA clinical care model promotes primary care and is
providing seniors with value-based care that can be of a higher quality than Medicare FFS,
resulting in improved health outcomes and cost savings. MA offers financial protections from
high out-of-pocket costs not available in Medicare FFS, which is an important benefit for the
more than half of MA beneficiaries that have low fixed incomes of less than $30,000 annually.5
The MA model prioritizes care coordination, early diagnosis, and treatment of chronic
conditions, and is strengthened by MA’s ability to offer benefits aimed at addressing social
determinants of health including vision, dental, hearing, telehealth services, transportation, meal
services and delivery, in-home support services, and other wellness benefits.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, MA is protecting and supporting seniors and
individuals with disabilities by providing more care in the home through meal delivery, providing
personal protective equipment, multifaceted beneficiary engagement, vaccine education, and
delivery services to underserved communities. MA plans are also supporting beneficiaries by
utilizing telehealth visits.
To ensure this continuum of care, we stand ready to protect MA from payments cuts, which
could lead to higher costs and premiums, reduce vital benefits, and undermine advances made
to improve health outcomes and health equity for MA enrollees.
We look forward to partnering with you to fulfill CMS’s commitment to improving health care
access, quality, and affordability, and to advancing health equity. We are committed to building
on the progress already made by protecting proven health care coverage options like MA for the
program’s more than 26 million beneficiaries– including the millions of seniors we represent in
our states.
Sincerely,
4
David J. Meyers, Vincent Mor, Momotazur Rahman, and Amal N. Trivedi. Growth in Medicare
Advantage Greatest Among Black And Hispanic Enrollees. Health Affairs, 40, no. 6 (2021): 945-950.
5
https://www.ahip.org/wp-content/uploads/MA_Demographics_Report_2019.pdf

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September XX, 2021

The Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure

Dear Administrator Brooks-LaSure:

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