"Despite the base payment reduction, Medicare Advantage plans are projected to receive a net payment increase of 3.7 percent, equivalent to $16 billion, once risk adjustments are applied."
From the POST: "Trump promises permanent cut to payroll tax funding Social Security and Medicare if he’s reelected"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/08/08/trump-payroll-tax-cut/
August, 2020 - WAPO headline: "Trump promises permanent cut to payroll tax funding Social Security and Medicare if he’s reelected"
"President Trump pledged on Saturday to pursue a permanent cut to the
payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare if he wins
reelection in November . . . "
Avik Roy, an outside health care adviser to the Romney campaign, admits that committing to billions of dollars in higher Medicare spending in the near-term will make it difficult for Romney to achieve its separate goal of reducing overall federal spending to modern lows. But he notes that Romney could make up the difference elsewhere in the budget or, by “mak[ing] other changes to the Medicare program, such as increased means-testing, that don’t alter the program’s basic structure.”
Further means-testing of Medicare would amount to a benefit cut to current seniors.
