Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Lowers Cut To Medicare Advantage Payments In 2024

The U.S. government announced on Friday a lower-than-expected 1.1% average cut of 2024 reimbursement rates for health insurers.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced its phasing in payment changes for privatized Medicare plans over the next three years — and estimated that insurers would see an average 3.32% payment increase, or $13.8 billion, in 2024 compared to 2023
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) said it expected total payments for next year to rise by 3.3% from 2023, or around $13.8 billion, up from its 1% initial estimate, Reuters reported, and reduced drops on some costs resulting from rule changes.
Health insurers operating Medicare Advantage plans have come under pressure after the government proposed new rules for an audit program last month to avoid overpaying them.
"The policies finalized in this Rate Announcement will help make more accurate payments. This reduces incentives to cherry-pick healthy beneficiaries and discriminate against sicker patients," CMS said.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH and Humana Inc HUM, Elevance Health Inc ELV, CVS Health Corp CVS, and Cigna Group CI was up around 1% during the premarket session on the last check Monday.
Medicare hospice payments could grow by as much as 2.8%, or $720 million, next year under a rule recently proposed by CMS.
It seeks to update the Medicare payment rates for hospice care in fiscal year (FY) 2024 based on a 3 percent update to the market basket, reduced by a 0.2 percent productivity adjustment. The result is an updated payment cap per patient of $33,396.55.
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