The U.S. government on Friday proposed 2026 reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage plans run by private insurers that will result in a 2.2% increase in payments, compared with a decline of 0.2% last year.

The Biden administration’s final regulation affecting the Medicare Advantage industry would come with a much lighter touch than the past two years.

The Better Medicare Alliance urged President-elect Donald Trump to reconsider these Medicare Advantage policies once he takes office.

Medicare Advantage benchmark payments are poised to increase by 2.23%, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed in a Friday afternoon advance notice. | CMS is recommending a 2.23% payment increase from the federal government to MA plans.

Critics of Medicare Advantage plans contend that some insurers manipulate a Medicare Advantage program mechanism that provides higher payments for higher-risk enrollees by making aggressive, sometimes dishonest efforts to indicate that ordinary enrollees are seriously ill.

Health insurance companies selling private Medicare Advantage plans in the US would see a greater increase in payments in 2026 than in the current year if a proposal released Friday is adopted by the incoming Trump administration.

Shares of health insurers advanced Friday after the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced it has proposed raising government payments to Medicare Advantage plans by an average of $4.