A Democratic bill with 52 Democratic cosponsors · See all 52 cosponsors
Last activity — Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
In committee
Introduced and handed to a committee in the chamber it started in.
The committee holds it, and most bills are never heard from again. A hearing or a committee vote would be news; silence is the usual outcome, and it kills the bill without anyone voting against it.
Its path through Congress
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
- This legislation is officially known as the Save MEDICARE Act of 2026.
- It makes several changes to how Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans are managed and paid.
- The bill stops using certain methods like chart reviews and health risk assessments to adjust plan payments starting in 2028.
- It changes how benchmark payments are calculated by removing the county quartile system and adjusting for favorable selection.
- The bill speeds up audits and appeals for Medicare Advantage plans and lets states enforce plan requirements.
- It also requires Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for certain health care items and services provided to veterans.
Yes· 3 of 13
- Scored +7
Would veterans be better off under this, taking everything together?
Strengthens VA funding collections by requiring third-party Medicare plans to reimburse the VA for veteran care.
- Scored +7
Does this help veterans get medical care?
Requires Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans to reimburse the VA for care provided to veterans, securing additional resources for veterans' healthcare.
- Scored +7
Does this increase the pay, pensions or support veterans receive?
Ensures the VA receives proper cost-recovery reimbursements for healthcare services delivered to veterans enrolled in Medicare plans.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
- Section 2: Stops the use of diagnoses collected from chart reviews and health risk assessments when figuring out health status payments, which helps ensure payments are based on actual care rather than paperwork tricks.
- Section 4: Requires the government to adjust base payment amounts for favorable selection, making sure taxpayer dollars are spent more fairly compared to traditional fee-for-service Medicare.
- Section 5: Speeds up audit and appeal timelines under the Risk Adjustment Data Validation program and allows the use of recovery audit contractors to find and claw back overpayments with penalties.
- Section 7: Allows individual states to require Medicare Advantage organizations to meet federal standards, giving local authorities more power to protect consumers.
- Section 8: Bans Medicare Advantage contracts from using percentage of premium contracts or financial incentives that reward providers for coding specific items and services.
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- Section 5: Imposes a user fee by reducing payments to Medicare Advantage organizations by 0.02 percent to pay for audits, which companies might try to pass down to plan participants.
- Section 5: Blocks any judicial review of determinations made by the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Risk Adjustment Data Validation audit program.
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Tap or hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Would veterans be better off under this, taking everything together? — Strengthens VA funding collections by requiring third-party Medicare plans to reimburse the VA for veteran care. Would retired people be better off under this? — Enhances oversight and enforcement for Medicare Advantage plans, directly benefiting retired seniors. Would people over 65 be better off under this? — Protects the Medicare program's integrity and long-term viability by curtailing excessive plan payments and aggressive coding. Would households on low incomes be better off under this? — Ensures more equitable distribution of public healthcare spending. Would middle-income households be better off under this? — Protects taxpayer dollars by reducing overpayments to private insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage.
- Economy And Finance
- Does this give people more protection from unfair business practices? — Empowers states to enforce plan requirements and bans certain financial incentives for coding, enhancing consumer protections. Does this make the government pay for what it commits to? — By tightening audits, recouping overpayments, and eliminating certain coding bonuses, the bill improves fiscal accountability in Medicare. Does this reduce what the federal government spends? — Reforms to risk adjustment and benchmark payments decrease federal spending on Medicare Advantage subsidies. Does this reduce what the federal government owes? — The bill reduces unnecessary overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans, potentially saving federal funds.
- Governance And Ideology
- Does this leave more decisions to the states? — Grants individual states the explicit authority to enforce federal Medicare Advantage plan requirements within their borders. Does this make what the government does easier for the public to see? — Mandates comprehensive annual analyses and publication of favorable selection data on government websites.
- Healthcare
- Does this help veterans get medical care? — Requires Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans to reimburse the VA for care provided to veterans, securing additional resources for veterans' healthcare.
- National Security And Foreign Policy
- Does this increase the pay, pensions or support veterans receive? — Ensures the VA receives proper cost-recovery reimbursements for healthcare services delivered to veterans enrolled in Medicare plans.
- 7/20/2026
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- 7/17/2026
- Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- 7/15/2026
- 1 Cosponsor added.
- 7/14/2026
- 2 Cosponsors added.
- 7/6/2026
- 2 Cosponsors added.
- 7/2/2026
- 3 Cosponsors added.
- 6/30/2026
- Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- 43 Cosponsors added.
- Introduced in House
Alma AdamsDemocrat · North Carolina
Yassamin AnsariDemocrat · Arizona
Becca BalintDemocrat · Vermont
Emanuel CleaverDemocrat · Missouri
Yvette ClarkeDemocrat · New York
Steve CohenDemocrat · Tennessee
André CarsonDemocrat · Indiana
Judy ChuDemocrat · California
Greg CasarDemocrat · Texas
Danny DavisDemocrat · Illinois
Rosa DeLauroDemocrat · Connecticut
Christopher DeluzioDemocrat · Pennsylvania
Mark DeSaulnierDemocrat · California
Debbie DingellDemocrat · Michigan
Maxine DexterDemocrat · Oregon
Al GreenDemocrat · Texas
John GaramendiDemocrat · California
Jesús GarcíaDemocrat · Illinois
Robert GarciaDemocrat · California
Adelita GrijalvaDemocrat · Arizona
Jared HuffmanDemocrat · California
Val HoyleDemocrat · Oregon
Henry JohnsonDemocrat · Georgia
Pramila JayapalDemocrat · Washington
Jonathan JacksonDemocrat · Illinois
Ro KhannaDemocrat · California
Raja KrishnamoorthiDemocrat · Illinois
George LatimerDemocrat · New York
James McGovernDemocrat · Massachusetts
Kweisi MfumeDemocrat · Maryland
Grace MengDemocrat · New York
Christian MenefeeDemocrat · Texas
Jerrold NadlerDemocrat · New York
Eleanor NortonDemocrat · District of Columbia
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezDemocrat · New York
Ilhan OmarDemocrat · Minnesota
Chellie PingreeDemocrat · Maine
Mark PocanDemocrat · Wisconsin
Delia RamirezDemocrat · Illinois
Emily RandallDemocrat · Washington
Robert ScottDemocrat · Virginia
Adam SmithDemocrat · Washington
Janice SchakowskyDemocrat · Illinois
Bennie ThompsonDemocrat · Mississippi
Mark TakanoDemocrat · California
Rashida TlaibDemocrat · Michigan
Jill TokudaDemocrat · Hawaii
Shri ThanedarDemocrat · Michigan
Nydia VelázquezDemocrat · New York
Maxine WatersDemocrat · California
Nikema WilliamsDemocrat · Georgia
Bonnie Watson ColemanDemocrat · New Jersey