A Medicare proposal some Republicans want to include in their sweeping megabill has the backing of a key Democratic senator — though he doesn’t want it included in the party-line package.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon said in a statement that he stands behind the No UPCODE Act, a bill co-sponsored with Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy that tackles tools Medicare Advantage plans use to get higher payments from the federal government — calling it “common sense” that health insurers “shouldn’t be allowed to overcharge taxpayers for the care they deliver.”
However, he said in the statement to POLITICO, the legislation should instead be considered “through regular order, not in the context of a partisan bill that will end up leaving 16 million people without health care.”
Still, Merkley’s statement standing up for the policy Republicans are now eyeing for their domestic policy agenda could give the GOP cover as they look to find more savings to offset costly tax cuts and other provisions. Including No UPCODE could generate more than $100 billion in savings and help Senate Republicans soften some politically tricky provisions in the House-passed megabill.
The House debated adding the bill to their version of the package but eventually relented after Republicans in battleground districts repeatedly warned it was too politically toxic. Now GOP senators say President Donald Trump — who had repeatedly pledged to keep Medicare intact — has privately blessed changes to the program so long as they are limited to addressing “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Even so, the discussion continues to cause heartburn in the GOP, with Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri expressing outright opposition and a group of House moderates feeling blindsided by the Senate discussions.
Key centrist Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) said he’d need to talk to Senate leadership about the scope of the proposal. “We specifically kept that out,” he said.
Speaker Mike Johnson demurred Friday when asked by POLITICO if he would advise Senate Republicans to avoid touching Medicare, saying they “haven’t addressed that yet.”
It’s not yet clear to what extent Democrats will seek to weaponize any GOP attempts to target Medicare in their “big, beautiful bill” — and it could be tricky if the underlying policy Republicans embrace is bipartisan. So far the opposition messaging has focused largely on potential cuts to Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for needy Americans.
Already, though, the possibility of adding the Cassidy-Merkley legislation to the megabill has generated fierce pushback from the insurance industry.
Mary Beth Donahue, president and CEO of advocacy group Better Medicare Alliance, which counts insurers among its members, said in a statement Friday that the legislation amounts to a cut to benefits and would “break a promise to millions of seniors who rely on it.”
Cassidy said in a statement the legislation would help cut down on fraud and waste in Medicare Advantage, which lets older Americans get a private plan with additional benefits.
“To say the No UPCODE Act has bipartisan support is an understatement,” he said.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
