STAT+: Trump gives major lift to 2026 Medicare Advantage payments

Health insurers that sell Medicare Advantage plans are going to get billions more in taxpayer money next year. 

President Trump’s Medicare agency finalized a rule Monday that would raise benchmark payment rates to privatized Medicare plans by 5.1% for 2026. That was higher than the Biden administration’s proposed payment increase of 2.2%. 

The increase is greater because Medicare’s actuaries used more updated federal data on the spending patterns of people who are enrolled in the traditional Medicare program, which is used to calculate how much Medicare Advantage plans should be paid to cover their members.

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