Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, sent letters to the chief executives of seven major payers: UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, Humana, Elevance Health, Centene, CVS Health and Molina Healthcare.
In the letters, sent March 22, the senators called the profits major companies make from the Medicare Advantage program “outrageous.”
“Given these outsize profits and the long history of corporate profiteering in the MA program, we are requesting information from your company about whether [the company] would take actions that hurt seniors, as industry groups are claiming, instead of reducing exorbitant salaries or the massive payouts to your shareholders and executives,” the lawmakers wrote.
Industry groups representing payers have said that proposed rate changes from CMS would force insurers to cut benefits or raise premiums to account for the difference in government payments.
Some provider groups have also expressed concerns about the proposed ruling, including worries that the changed rates would hurt care for individuals enrolled in special needs plans and cut reimbursements for certain chronic conditions.
Read the full letter here.
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