New Survey: Senior Voters Overwhelmingly Want the Government to Protect Medicare Advantage Funding

85% of voters in key 2024 Senate battleground states believe that President Biden would be breaking his promise to protect Medicare if cuts are made to Medicare Advantage

February 23, 2023 — American seniors who choose Medicare Advantage want the government to fully fund the Medicare Advantage program. That’s the key finding of a survey conducted by Seven Letter Insight on behalf of the Coalition for Medicare Choices (CMC), a national grassroots organization of more than 2 million Americans who are covered by Medicare Advantage. The survey, conducted from February 17 to February 20, shows near-unanimous satisfaction with Medicare Advantage, and it finds that funding it is extremely important for senior voters.

The polling comes as Medicare Advantage funding is at risk as a result of the Biden Administration’s proposed 2024 Advance Rate Notice for Medicare Advantage. Seniors who choose Medicare Advantage are concerned – they worry about increased costs, reduced benefits and tough spending choices if coverage becomes more expensive.

The survey found:

• Senior voters with Medicare Advantage are nearly unanimously satisfied with their current plan’s affordability (93%), convenience (96%), value (95%), and the choices that their plans provide them (95%).
• Funding Medicare Advantage is an extremely important issue for senior voters. Voters with Medicare Advantage believe that the government (95%) and President Biden (83%) should fully fund Medicare Advantage to cover increasing health care costs.
• A strong, bipartisan majority believe that the Biden Administration’s proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage are simply unacceptable. Fully 83% of senior voters (including 88% of Republicans, 83% of Independents, and 77% of Democrats) say the cuts are unacceptable.
• The consequences of cutting funding to Medicare Advantage are dire. Many senior voters (72%) believe that cuts would impact their ability to afford health care; 70% of senior voters with Medicare Advantage believe increased premiums would negatively impact in their ability to afford other necessities.
• Cutting Medicare Advantage could be politically disastrous. 85% of voters, (including 95% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, 72% of Democrats, and 87% of senior voters in key battleground states) believe that President Biden would be breaking his promise to protect Medicare if cuts are made to Medicare Advantage.

The poll reached 1,000 senior voters who are currently on a Medicare Advantage health care plan and included a 300-voter oversample from key 2024 Senate battleground states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Montana, West Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. To learn more about survey methodology and senior voters’ perceptions of Medicare Advantage funding, click here.

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