The chair of Congress's Medicare advisory commission told an insurance industry audience on Sept. 22 that his agency stands behind its estimate that Medicare Advantage will cost taxpayers about $76 billion more this year than traditional Medicare would for the same people. Dr. Amol Navathe, who became chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, in May, spoke at a Washington forum hosted by the Better Medicare Alliance, an influential Medicare Advantage lobby, Healthcare Dive reported.
Navathe, a medical ethics and health policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has served on the boards of two Medicare Advantage plans, said the finding that the program costs 14% more does not mean MedPAC is calling for a 14% cut to plans. He said the commission welcomes critiques. "There are opportunities for us to refine our methods and to improve our work, and we're aspiring to do that," he said.
