Most seniors' Medicare premiums last year were about 10% higher ($200 annually), because of alleged overpayments to private Medicare Advantage plans, congressional investigators found.
Medicare Part B premiums were partly pushed up by controversial health-insurer practices such as adding diagnoses for higher payments, according to the Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan group of lawmakers that advises Congress on financial matters.
Overpayments to Medicare Advantage insurers increased Part B premiums by $13.4 billion in 2025, the committee said, with the cost mostly borne by seniors. Both those enrolled in Medical Advantage plans and those in standard Medicare faced those additional costs.
The report should be released Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for AHIP, the health-insurance industry lobbying group, said the committee’s findings were based on “fundamentally flawed data, methodology and extrapolations” and shouldn’t dictate policy. Oh no, can't have that! Can't actually legislate to help actual working stiffs! If they tried to stop the mighty insurance profit machine, it would be downright un-American.
