July 22, 2014 - WASHINGTON - Following the release of a study from the American Action Network (AAN) showing that seniors in California’s 10th congressional district will face $1,573.28 in cuts each under the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Representative Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) released the following statement:
“The Affordable Care Act cuts more than $300 billion from Medicare Advantage, putting a unbearable burden on some of our most vulnerable citizens. Central Valley seniors can’t afford to bear the brunt of these costs. Thousands of seniors in my district rely on Medicare Advantage plans for their healthcare needs, from routine visits to emergency care. They’ve already started to see their plans cancelled and costs rise.
“It is clear that the President’s healthcare law threatens the well-being of our seniors, which is why I introduced the Seniors’ Right to Know Act, H.R. 4201, this past March. This bill would ensure that the millions of seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are told how the Affordable Care Act is affecting the healthcare plans that they rely on every day.
“More than 40 significant alterations have been made to the healthcare law since its enactment. Many of those were made unilaterally by the Administration. It’s clear that the law is not working as intended. Instead, our seniors are suffering the consequences.”
The AAN study examines the impact of Medicare Advantage (MA) cuts for individual congressional districts nationwide. According to the AAN, the study quantifies how much on average a senior’s MA has been cut in each congressional district by comparing MA rates from before the ACA with the actual benefit cuts each year since the ACA, including the latest round of MA cuts finalized in April 2014. 30 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Advantage plans, or nearly 16 million seniors across the country.
More information about Rep. Denham’s legislation to require that Medicare Advantage providers inform program enrollees when they make a change to seniors’ plans in order to comply with the Affordable Care Act is available here. More information about the AAN study is available here.
