Senate Republicans are mulling a reduction in Medicare spending as they look for savings to fund President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," Bloomberg reported Friday.
The move includes reducing payments to health insurance companies that run private Medicare plans. It could potentially save hundreds of billions of dollars, which in turn could be used to pay for tax cuts included in Trump's signature legislative package, the report said. However, the lawmakers are split on whether to add changes to Medicare Advantage in the bill, according to the report.
Some Senate Republicans are proposing to make it harder for the private Medicare Advantage insurers to foul the federal subsidy system by exaggerating the health challenges their enrollees face, the report said, citing Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
On the other hand, House Republicans backed the proposal to reduce funding for the Medicaid health insurance program, which caters to low-income and disabled people and food assistance for the poor, according to the report.
A policy shift could affect insurers including CVS Health (CVS), Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH).
The companies didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.
Shares of CVS, Humana and UnitedHealth were down 0.8%, 1.6% and 1.8%, respectively, in recent trading.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
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