Fight to Rename 'Medicare Advantage' Gets New Push

What You Need to Know

The new Save Medicare Act bill is a version that Pocan introduced, with four co-sponsors, in the previous Congress.
It would prohibit Medicare Advantage plans from using the word Medicare in plan titles or ads.
In an ad-like video promoting the new bill, the backers urge viewers not to call any 1-800 number.
Many other Democrats in Congress have expressed strong support for the Medicare Advantage program.

Rep. Mark Pocan and two colleagues are reviving a fight to take “Medicare” out of the name of the Medicare Advantage program — and, this time, they have a YouTube that looks like a parody of a Medicare Advantage TV ad.

The Wisconsin Democrat introduced the new version of the Save Medicare Act bill today, together with Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Il..

The sponsors are promoting the position that “only Medicare is Medicare,” and that a Medicare Advantage plan may fail to provide the care that an older Medicare enrollee might need.

What It Means

If the bill sponsors get a significant amount attention, some clients could be more interested in hearing about using another type of coverage, Medicare supplement insurance, to fill the many gaps in Original Medicare Coverage.

The Basics

A Medicare Advantage plan is a health coverage arrangement that uses a combination of federal money and enrollment premium payments to offer what looks like an alternative to Original Medicare.

Enrollees still pay the Original Medicare Part A hospitalization program premium, if they have not already paid for that coverage through payroll taxes, and they still pay the Medicare Part B physician and outpatient services program premium.

A plan manager typically uses limits on the doctors and hospitals an enrollee can see and active efforts to manage use of care to hold down the deductible and the Medicare Advantage plan’s own, separate monthly premium bills.

The Medicare Advantage program serves 30 million of the 65 million people who now have Medicare coverage. Another 14 million Medicare enrollees use another arrangement, Medicare supplement insurance combined with Original Medicare, to avoid having to pay Original Medicare deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance accounts.

The Bill

At press time, the Save Medicare Act bill did not yet have a bill number or a Congress.gov bill tracking entry.

The bill would rename the Medicare Advantage program and prohibit Medicare Advantage plans from using the word “Medicare” in plan titles or ads.

The Pocan-Khanna-Schakowsky bill is a new version of H.R. 9187, a bill that Pocan and Khanna introduced in the 117th Congress. That bill had a total of four co-sponsors, all Democrats.

H.R. 9187 died in the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee at a time when Democrats controlled the House.