News Briefs: House Members Urge CMS to Reform Broker Compensation in MA

One week after the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on misleading marketing and broker compensation practices in Medicare Advantage, Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) wrote CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure urging the agency to increase oversight and transparency of broker participation and compensation. Specifically, they asked Brooks-LaSure to address this in the upcoming Contract Year 2025 Part C and D Policy and Technical Changes proposed rule, which was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Aug. 24 and cleared OMB on Oct. 27, with publication still pending as of AIS Health press time. “We appreciate the previous actions taken by [CMS] to prioritize the health and well-being of our nation’s seniors by ensuring that beneficiaries have access to accurate and unbiased information about Medicare coverage. These policies protect the integrity of the Medicare program and ensure that seniors are able to access affordable health coverage,” wrote Pallone, who is ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Neal, ranking member of Ways and Means. But they encouraged CMS to build on those policies and reform total broker payments by setting standardized limits on compensation. Ensuring such payments are set at “reasonable amounts” would eliminate “incentives that encourage enrollment in plans with the highest broker payment that may not be best suited for seniors’ health needs,” they wrote.

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