OPINION — Last year, the Trump administration delivered strong Medicare Advantage funding that began to undo years of cuts. It was the right call, a recognition that 35 million seniors who choose this program deserve stable, adequate coverage.
So the 2027 advance notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is difficult to square. CMS is proposing a 0.09% payment increase — flat funding in all but name — at a time when medical costs are climbing well beyond that. When rates don’t keep pace with costs, flat funding is a cut. And seniors will be the ones who feel it.
The consequences are predictable: higher premiums, reduced supplemental benefits, plan closures and fewer options in rural and underserved communities.
