{"id":146782,"date":"2026-04-28T18:34:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/?p=146782"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T22:34:55","slug":"bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently introduced companion versions of the Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 in both the House and Senate, aiming to strengthen oversight of Medicare Advantage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/senators-marshall-whitehouse-introduce-bill-to-fix-medicare-advantage-for-seniors\/\">introduced<\/a> in the Senate on Monday by Senators Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island). It was <a href=\"https:\/\/millermeeks.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/dr-miller-meeks-congressional-doctors-introduce-bipartisan-bill-restore\">introduced<\/a> last week in the House by Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), John Joyce (R-Pennsylvania), Greg Murphy (R-North Carolina), Jimmy Panetta (D-California), Ami Bera (D-California), Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) and Kim Schrier (D-Washington).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It comes as Medicare Advantage enrollment is on the rise, with more than half of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. However, the program is facing increasing scrutiny over care delays and administrative barriers. Specifically, the bill would:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Require standard prior authorization approvals within 72 hours, expedited decisions within 24 hours and real-time approvals for routine low-risk services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ban coverage from being retroactively denied once a service is authorized, unless there is fraud or error.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Require MA plans to publicly report prior authorization data.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ban MA plans from applying stricter medical necessity standards than original Medicare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strengthen network adequacy requirements for rehabilitation hospitals and long-term care hospitals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAmericans are rightfully fed up with health care bureaucracy, and prior authorization is one of the worst offenders: delaying treatment, driving up costs, and putting paperwork ahead of patients. We need to cut this red tape so providers can deliver timely, high-quality care,\u201d Sen. Whitehouse said in a statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rep. Miller-Meeks echoed these comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor too long, cases of abuse have crept into Medicare Advantage, pulling it away from its core mission of serving America\u2019s seniors,\u201d said Miller-Meeks in a statement. \u201cAs a physician, I\u2019ve seen how these practices delay care, create unnecessary barriers, and increase the cost of healthcare. This bill restores accountability, cracks down on bad actors, and ensures Iowa seniors can access the care they need, without delay, without denial, and without interference from bureaucratic red tape.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living applauded the introduction of the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 represents a significant step towards ensuring Medicare Advantage delivers on its promise to America\u2019s seniors,\u201d said Clif Porter, president and CEO of AHCA\/NCAL, in a statement. \u201cWe commend these lawmakers for developing a better way to enable seniors to have timely access to care and hold plans accountable. We urge continued bipartisan support and swift passage through Congress.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo: designer491, Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawmakers introduced the Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 to tighten prior authorization rules, boost transparency and curb practices that delay care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31767,"featured_media":20700,"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":[57,75],"hide_from_feed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,75,57,36,24],"tags":[22455,16479,11274],"class_list":["post-146782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumer-employer","category-payers","category-politics-channel","category-syn","category-top-story","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-senate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - 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\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - MedCity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawmakers introduced the Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 to tighten prior authorization rules, boost transparency and curb practices that delay care.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MedCity News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marissa Plescia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marissa Plescia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marissa Plescia\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02\"},\"headline\":\"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"House of Representatives\",\"Medicare Advantage\",\"Senate\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Consumer \/ Employer\",\"Payers\",\"Policy\",\"SYN\",\"Top Story\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\",\"name\":\"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - MedCity News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg\",\"width\":724,\"height\":483},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/\",\"name\":\"MedCity News\",\"description\":\"Healthcare technology news, life science current events\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02\",\"name\":\"Marissa Plescia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/cropped-MedCityFinals-42-1-scaled-1-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/cropped-MedCityFinals-42-1-scaled-1-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Marissa Plescia\"},\"description\":\"Marissa Plescia is a reporter for MedCity News covering payers, employers and health tech. She previously worked at Becker\u2019s Hospital Review as a finance reporter. Before that, she was a data journalism intern at Kansas City PBS for the Dow Jones News Fund. She received her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marissaplescia\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marissaplescia\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/author\/mplescia\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - MedCity News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - MedCity News","og_description":"Lawmakers introduced the Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 to tighten prior authorization rules, boost transparency and curb practices that delay care.","og_url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/","og_site_name":"MedCity News","article_published_time":"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":724,"height":483,"url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marissa Plescia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marissa Plescia","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/"},"author":{"name":"Marissa Plescia","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02"},"headline":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage","datePublished":"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg","keywords":["House of Representatives","Medicare Advantage","Senate"],"articleSection":["Consumer \/ Employer","Payers","Policy","SYN","Top Story"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/","url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/","name":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage - MedCity News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-28T22:34:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-28T22:34:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/GettyImages-848792436.jpg","width":724,"height":483},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/2026\/04\/bipartisan-bill-seeks-to-strengthen-oversight-of-medicare-advantage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare Advantage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/","name":"MedCity News","description":"Healthcare technology news, life science current events","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8b86090b11fe45308d59033caadeac02","name":"Marissa Plescia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/cropped-MedCityFinals-42-1-scaled-1-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/cropped-MedCityFinals-42-1-scaled-1-96x96.jpg","caption":"Marissa Plescia"},"description":"Marissa Plescia is a reporter for MedCity News covering payers, employers and health tech. She previously worked at Becker\u2019s Hospital Review as a finance reporter. Before that, she was a data journalism intern at Kansas City PBS for the Dow Jones News Fund. She received her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in journalism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marissaplescia\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marissaplescia\/"],"url":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/author\/mplescia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31767"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146783,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146782\/revisions\/146783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medcitynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}