Record Number of U.S. Senators Sign Letter Supporting Medicare Advantage

A record 65 United States Senators took a stand yesterday to protect seniors with Medicare Advantage (MA). Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) led a bipartisan letter to Acting Administrator Conway at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) strongly supporting MA. The number of Senate signees is the highest ever in support of Medicare Advantage. In advance of the letter, members of the Coalition for Medicare Choices (CMC) sent 22,000 messages to Congress in recent days urging support for the program.

With increased public attention on health care, MA continues to be a program with broad bipartisan support that should serve as a model for an efficient public-private program that can reduce costs and improve care.

“On behalf of the 2 million members of the Coalition for Medicare Choices, we want to thank Senators Crapo and Nelson, and the huge bipartisan group of Senators who stood up for our health care. Seniors know how important it is to have Medicare Advantage champions in Congress who are looking out for us,” said Marilyn Frazier, a member of the Coalition for Medicare Choices in Boise, Idaho.

More than 18 million seniors and individuals with disabilities rely on the Medicare Advantage program, which is the part of Medicare through which private health plans provide comprehensive medical coverage. Beneficiaries choose Medicare Advantage because of the better services, higher-quality care, and additional benefits health plans provide.

Founded in 1999, the Coalition for Medicare Choices (CMC) is the preeminent national grassroots organization of more than 2 million people who support Medicare Advantage. CMC members reside in all U.S. states and territories and are united in supporting high quality health plan choices in Medicare.

To learn more about the CMC, visit www.MedicareChoices.org and follow the coalition on Facebook and Twitter.