{"id":146193,"date":"2026-04-07T22:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/?p=146193"},"modified":"2026-04-08T03:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:35:23","slug":"healthcare-money-medicare-advtantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/healthcare-money-medicare-advtantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Healthcare CEOs Agree on Whether VBC and MA Actually Save Money?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Value-based care and Medicare Advantage are often heralded as two of healthcare\u2019s most promising strategies for controlling costs, but industry leaders can\u2019t quite tell if they\u2019re actually working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a recent discussion<\/a> hosted by consulting firm rule of three<\/a>, healthcare executives debated whether these models are truly delivering savings. Some have faith that value-based care and Medicare Advantage will soon deliver on their promise of lower costs, and others believe they\u2019ve flopped when it comes to achieving their intended goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Meucci, CEO of health data platform Arcadia<\/a>, said value-based care is entering an era where it really needs to prove its impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his eyes, the industry needs to move beyond focusing on coding optimization or star ratings and instead use value-based models to bring down costs by addressing fraud, waste and abuse. He sees a real opportunity there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s a bunch of healthcare costs that are just bad actors, and value based programs monitor that data more regularly than anybody else,\u201d Meucci stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risant Health<\/a> CEO Jaewon Ryu agreed, saying value-based care has yet to fully realize its potential but that it remains the most promising approach for improving outcomes and managing population health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meucci also pointed out that some payers reducing enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans could ultimately strengthen margins and encourage more innovation in the cost-containment arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As insurers pull back from markets or benefits that have become less profitable amid higher utilization and tighter reimbursement, the plans that remain might be forced to operate more efficiently \u2014 which could create more room to invest in new care models and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Ryu noted that changes underway in Medicare Advantage, including reassessing supplemental benefits, could reshape the program as the country\u2019s population ages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said there\u2019s a possibility these shifts could ultimately make the program more sustainable and responsive to patients\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another speaker \u2014 Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health<\/a> \u2014 took a more favorable view of Medicare Advantage, noting that it now covers more than half of U.S. seniors and serves as a major platform for innovation, including the deployment of clinical AI tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To him, Medicare Advantage could ultimately outperform value-based care in terms of impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Meucci pointed out that there\u2019s still no consensus on why the touted value of Medicare Advantage hasn\u2019t translated into lower expenses. He said the industry has yet to come up with a good answer as to why Medicare Advantage is still more expensive than traditional Medicare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a self-declared \u201cdollars-and-cents guy,\u201d Shawn Gremminger strongly pushed back on the notion that value-based care or Medicare Advantage is actually bending the cost curve. He is CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gremminger argued that the fact Medicare Advantage continues to cost more than traditional Medicare raises doubts about the effectiveness of value-based payment models overall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve seen no proof that value based care is actually saving Americans money,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Gremminger thinks employers will increasingly pursue direct contracting with providers, which he described as a simpler and more transparent method to reduce costs and gain more influence over healthcare purchasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, it seems to remain an open question whether value-based care and Medicare Advantage will meaningfully reduce costs or just shift spending around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: MirageC, Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Healthcare leaders can\u2019t tell whether value-based care and Medicare Advantage are truly lowering costs. Some see promise in these models and ongoing innovations, while others say the programs haven\u2019t delivered measurable savings and point to direct contracting as a more transparent way to control spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31620,"featured_media":146194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"featured_image_focal_point":[],"homepage_placement":"top","homepage_placements":{"top":true,"featured":true,"sidebar":false},"homepage_alternative_layout":false,"featured_categories":[156,51659],"hide_from_feed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,48,51659],"tags":[44163,53543,16479,46676,48785,51962,53544,27234,42500],"class_list":["post-146193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumer-employer","category-hospitals-channel","category-providers","tag-arcadia","tag-ma-2","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-morgan-health","tag-national-alliance-of-healthcare-purchaser-coalitions","tag-risant-health","tag-rule-of-three","tag-value-based-care","tag-vbc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDo Healthcare CEOs Agree on Whether VBC and MA Actually Save Money? - MedCity News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/healthcare-money-medicare-advtantage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do Healthcare CEOs Agree on Whether VBC and MA Actually Save Money? - MedCity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Healthcare leaders can\u2019t tell whether value-based care and Medicare Advantage are truly lowering costs. 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