‘Dark Money’ Group Angles for Higher Medicare Advantage Payments

Judging by the more than 16,400 comments posted on a federal government website, you’d think there’s a wave of older Americans demanding that federal officials increase payments for their Medicare Advantage health insurance plans.

Yet about 82 percent of the comments are identical to a letter that appeared on the website of a secretive advocacy group called Medicare Advantage Majority, according to a KFF Health News analysis of the data.

The “dark money” group doesn’t reveal its backers or much else — other than to say that it is “dedicated to protecting and strengthening Medicare Advantage” and is “supported by hundreds of thousands of grassroots advocates across the country.”

“Our campaign provides information and offers tools that concerned Americans can use to reach decision-makers,” spokesman Darren Grubb said in an email. The group has spent more than $3.1 million on hundreds of Facebook ads since September 2024, according to the Facebook Ad Library, a database of the social media company’s online ads.

There’s no doubt that health insurers are unhappy with a January proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, to keep Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates essentially flat in 2027 — far less than they expected from the Trump administration.

Medicare Advantage plans offer seniors a private alternative to Original Medicare. Insurance plans have about 35 million members, or more than half of those eligible for Medicare.

CMS is expected to announce a final decision on rates early next month. The agency solicited public comment on the proposal from Jan. 26 to Feb. 25 to give interested parties and the public an opportunity to express their views. As of March 12, CMS said it had received 46,884 comments but had only posted 16,422 online.

Medicare Advantage Majority, which says the rate proposal amounts to a “cutback” in services and warns of dire consequences for seniors if it passes, accounted for at least 13,522 of the 16,422 comments posted as of March 12.

Critics warn that these types of campaigns can create a misleading impression of popular support, particularly when it is unclear who is funding them.

“It puts a different spin on a massive wave of comments to know that all of them are led by a specific organization,” said Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform for Issue One, a group that seeks to limit the influence of money on government policy and legislation.