Washington
Medicare Advantage program supporters in Congress are gearing up to fight for an increase in the newly proposed 2010 reimbursement rates.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Monday that the 2010 rates will be 0.8% greater than the 2009 rates.
The proposed increase is higher than the 0.5% increase CMS officials suggested in a preliminary projection released in February, but it is lower than the 4.24% 2009 increase and the 5.71% 2008 increase.
The 0.8% increase proposal is based partly on implementation of a 21% cut in 2010 physician reimbursement rates. Congress is expected to nullify the physician rate cut before it goes into effect, according to Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, Washington.
If the physician rate cut is implemented, the Medicare Advantage provider reimbursement total could drop about 5%.
AHIP says the cuts could lead to higher premiums and benefits reductions for the 11 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans.
