Washington, D.C. – In response to the news that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will substantially increase payments to private Medicare Advantage plans in 2026, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Despite its promises to crack down on wasteful spending, the Trump administration just handed a $25 billion windfall to the very Medicare Advantage Big Medicine insurers accused of denying medically-neccessary care, upcoding, patient steering, and regulatory gaming,” said Emma Freer, Senior Policy Analyst for Healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project. “This massive overpayment rewards wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive behavior, and comes at the direct expense of seniors in this program and traditional Medicare, which could use these dollars to expand benefits and reduce out-of-pocket costs. CMS must reverse this decision and end the over-subsidization of Medicare Advantage.”

Learn more about Medicare Advantage here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties’ Break Up Big Medicine initiative to address healthcare consolidation here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here. 

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.