Better Medicare Alliance Responds to 2022 Final Rate Announcement and Rule
Rate Announcement ensures stability for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Washington, D.C. (January 15, 2021) – Better Medicare Alliance (BMA), the leading research and advocacy organization supporting Medicare Advantage, responded today to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2022 Rate Announcement and Final Rule.
The CMS policies, both released today, will finalize Medicare Advantage payment rates and codify Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D policies for the year ahead.
“With this Rate Announcement and Final Rule, CMS is delivering stability to the more than 25 million seniors and Americans with disabilities who value and rely on their Medicare Advantage coverage – particularly during the ongoing pandemic,”said Allyson Y. Schwartz, President and CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance.“As COVID-19 persists, we must not disrupt this lifeline that over 40 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries turn to today. Beneficiaries, providers, and health plans alike need the certainty that this Rate Announcement will provide. Importantly, the final rate accounts for the expected increase in health care utilization in 2022 as Americans reemerge from the current pandemic, resume routine care, and seek previously delayed care.”
Schwartz concluded, “As the country returns to normalcy post-pandemic, we look forward to the incoming Administration continuing year over year stability in Medicare Advantage that has provided high-value care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, just as it has in past Administrations – Democrat and Republican alike.”
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