Insurers: Medicare Advantage cuts would be 'crushing blow'

The insurance industry said Tuesday that plans to cut payments to private Medicare Advantage plans will hurt seniors' access to care.

The Health and Human Services Department said Friday that Medicare Advantage plans will face a 2.2 percent payment cut in 2014.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) said the cuts go too far.

"The proposed changes to Medicare Advantage payments are a crushing blow to the 14 million seniors and people with disabilities who count on this critically important part of Medicare," AHIP President Karen Ignagni said in a statement Tuesday.

She noted that the healthcare law already includes significant cuts in the government's payments to Medicare Advantage plans, and that insurers are also absorbing the health law's new tax on insurance plans.

"Washington cannot tax and cut Medicare Advantage this much and not expect seniors to be harmed," she said. "These changes will disrupt coverage for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when evidence clearly demonstrates that Medicare Advantage provides higher-quality care than the fee-for-service part of Medicare." 

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