Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association opposes reduction in reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans

Alissa Fox, vice president of legislative and regulatory policy for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, on Friday said that additional reductions in reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans "would be a disaster" for the program, CQ HealthBeat reports.

At a press briefing, Fox said that CMS has reduced reimbursements to MA plans by $13 billion over the past two years (Crowley, CQ HealthBeat, 2/2).

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has said that he will seek to reduce reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans to help cover the cost of other health care proposals.

In response, BCBSA "stressed the program's value to low-income and minority beneficiaries, as well as residents of rural areas," CongressDaily reports.

In addition to reimbursements to MA plans, BCBSA identified SCHIP reauthorization and implementation of health care information technology as top legislative priorities for 2007.

BCBSA also raised some concerns about the health insurance proposal announced by President Bush during his State of the Union address.

Fox said, "We want to make sure there are incentives to build upon the employer-based system" (Lee, CongressDaily, 2/2).