Morning Must-Read: Austin Frakt: What Happened to Offsetting Coverage Expansion Costs?

Austin Frakt: What happened to offsetting coverage expansion costs?: “I’m old enough to remember when a good deal of the Affordable Care Act’s…

…coverage expansion cost was to be offset by cuts to Medicare. I also recall that many critics of the ACA said Congress and the Administration would not uphold those cuts, that they’re politically unrealistic. I agreed with that critique, at least in part. Now we have solid evidence that critique was on target, at least as far as Medicare Advantage (MA) is concerned. Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, once again, failed to uphold scheduled cut payments to MA plans…. I’ve long argued that MA payment rate setting needs to be further insulated from politics. The much maligned IPAB could serve such an insulating role…. Ironically, it’s attacked from some of the same quarters that question the government’s resolve in upholding ACA cuts to Medicare…. As far as MA is concerned, it’s not clear that the existing governing structures are willing and able to do the job…