STAT+: Automatic enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans under consideration, top Trump health official says

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Source: STAT News

Original: https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/20/medicare-advantage-default-enrollment-chris-...

Published: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:48:53 +0000

The Trump administration is proposing an average payment increase of less than 0.1 percent for Medicare Advantage plans through 2027.[1][2] This increase is significantly lower than expected by Wall Street analysts, who had predicted 4-6 percent.[1] Shares of major insurers UnitedHealth Group, Humana and CVS Health fell more than 9 percent after the announcement.[1] The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, led by Mehmet Oz, wants to further limit the coding of diagnoses by insurance companies to prevent upcoding.[1][2] An independent panel reported that Medicare Advantage is overpaid by about $76 billion a year over traditional Medicare because of exaggerating the severity of diagnoses.[2] There is a 5 percent increase in payments and an additional investment of $25 billion in 2026.[2]