Lankford Checks Up on Medicare Advantage Issues for Oklahoma Seniors

CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s Q&A on YouTube.

CLICK HERE to watch Lankford’s Q&A on Rumble.

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) participated in a Senate Finance Committee hearing entitled, “Medicare Advantage Annual Enrollment: Cracking Down on Deceptive Practices and Improving Senior Experiences,” to discuss some of the benefits of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for Oklahoma seniors but also some of the challenges seniors face selecting, enrolling, and utilizing MA plans. Lankford specifically highlighted the large volume of calls Oklahoma’s senior adults receive as advertisements for MA plans. He says they are inundated and are “furious” about the number of calls they receive.

Witnesses at the hearing included Christina Reeg, Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program Director; Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Chapter; and Krista Hoglund, ASA, MAAA, Chief Executive Officer of Security Health Plan.

Lankford continues to work on solutions that provide senior adults in Oklahoma with more options through MA and traditional Medicare. In March, Lankford joined Senate Finance Committee Republicans to urge government health officials to take steps to prevent adverse outcomes for patients who rely on MA plans, following a February 2023 proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Excerpt

Lankford: Advertising is one thing and things that are coming in online or on the television. It’s another issue when I’ve got seniors that literally every single day get a call. Day after day, they’re getting calls on it. That is—they’re furious about it obviously, but again, this is a business that’s trying to be able to reach out to potential customers. We also have that that we want to be able to maintain the options and the awareness of it. How do we strike a balance on that because my seniors are sick of all the calls coming in on it?

Reeg: If I may, our seniors are sick of it too. When we are at public events, they approach us afterward with their phone saying, ‘How do I make it stop?’ And we ask them, you know, they’re on the ‘Do Not Call’ list. That’s not enough.

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