A group of senators says CMS actions to crack down on misleading marketing of Medicare Advantage plans do not go far enough.
Fourteen Democrats on the Senate finance committee sent a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on Oct. 25, urging more action from the agency on misleading marketing.
The Senate finance committee held a hearing on marketing of the program earlier this month.
CMS is taking a tougher approach to oversight of advertising of the program this year, requiring marketers to submit televisions ads to the agency for approval before they can air. The agency has rejected over 300 advertisements so far this year, according to Politico.
In the letter, the senators wrote that they "applaud" CMS' efforts to curb misleading advertising, but the new rules do not address the onslaught of phone calls and mailers older adults often receive from third-party marketers.
The lawmakers urged CMS to:
- Bar third-party marketing organizations from selling beneficiaries' contact information.
- Require MA plans to include broker identifier numbers in the complaint tracking system when beneficiaries make complaints about aggressive sales tactics.
- Systematically collect information on health risk assessment, marketing and other payments plans pay brokers beyond commissions reported to CMS.