CBO Says H.R. 1 Would NOT End Medicare Advantage
The Congressional Budget Office just released a letter requested by House Labor-HHS Subcommittee Chairman Rehberg regarding the impact of H.R. 1’s health law de-funding provisions on Medicare Advantage. The letter shows the de-funding provisions would have a minimal budgetary impact of only $5.7 billion over ten years – hardly the impact that would materialize if HHS was forced to end the Medicare Advantage program, as the Secretary alleged. The key sentence in the letter: “CBO and JCT assume that the Administration will interpret that [de-funding] provision in conjunction with other statutes (including Public Laws 111-148 and 111-152) to give maximum effect to all laws wherever possible.” In other words, CBO presumes HHS will use the legal authority it has to keep the MA program (and the rest of Medicare, for that matter) up and running – unless it wants to score political points by taking benefits away from seniors.