Ahead of Dr. Oz’s Confirmation, Senators Urge Crackdown on Private Medicare Insurers that Scam Patients, Price Gouge Taxpayers

Senators call for ending contracts, limiting enrollment for Medicare Advantage insurers that defraud seniors and taxpayers
“The most effective step the Administration can take in cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health care programs is by reining in the wasteful practices of corporate health insurers in the MA program.”
Text of Letter (PDF)
Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led a group of Senate Democrats in writing to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Stephanie Carlton, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), urging them to crackdown on abuses by private insurers in Medicare Advantage (MA) that overcharge taxpayers, raise costs for patients, and create barriers to access care.
Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) joined in signing the letter.
While the MA program was founded on the premise that private insurers could administer Medicare more cost-efficiently than the federal government, the program has failed to deliver savings in any year since its inception. In fact, in 2024 alone, private insurers in the programovercharged taxpayers by $83 billionrelative to Traditional Medicare, while overpayments to private insurers in MA are expected to total $1.2 trillion dollars over the next decade.
Despite these massive taxpayer overpayments, private insurers in MAroutinely slow down and denymedically necessary care for patients that otherwise would be approved under Traditional Medicare. MA patients are also more likely to be giveninadequate caredue to profit-padding insurance tactics, including early hospital discharges and shorter lengths of stay in care settings like nursing homes.
“At a time when Americans are paying nearly $26,000 per family in premiums per year, while the largest US insurer made $23 billion in annual profits, reining in profiteering could not be more important,”wrote the senators.
Ahead of CMS finalizing the 2026 Medicare Advantage Rate Notice (2026 Rate Notice), which sets payment rates for insurers in the program, the senators asked CMS to make four key reforms to the Medicare Advantage rules:
“These actions are crucial to improve health outcomes and ensure Medicare’s sustainability for future generations,”concluded the senators.
Senator Warren is a leading voice on reining in abuses in Medicare Advantage and protecting patients:
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