Government
Managed care lobby fights back with new ad campaign
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 10, 2007
The managed care industry has stepped up its fight against proposed Medicare Advantage reductions by launching a new television advertising campaign warning about the possible effect on seniors.
The ads from America's Health Insurance Plans, titled "Last Time," note that when Congress reduced Medicare private health plans' funding a decade ago, more than 1.5 million seniors who were enrolled in these plans lost access to them when the sponsors pulled out of the program. This year's proposed cuts, which the House approved last month as part of a children's health and Medicare measure, are significantly larger than those reductions were.
The American Medical Association and AARP have run their own joint television ads calling for Congress to approve the proposed Medicare Advantage changes. By eliminating additional federal subsidies to the plans, the proposal would put Medicare Advantage on equal ground with traditional Medicare and would free up nearly $160 billion over 10 years to spend on other health care priorities, the organizations say.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/09/10/gvbf0910.htm.
