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Posted: Jul 22, 2025 10:24 AMUpdated: Jul 22, 2025 10:24 AM
COMMUNITY CONNCECTION: Medicare Advantage Majority
Tom Davis
Medicare Advantage Majority (MAM), an organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Medicare Advantage program for 34 million American seniors and people with disabilities – more than half of all eligible. Appearing on COMMUNITY CONNECTION, spokesperson Darren Grubb said that MAM is advocating for Medicare beneficiaries – who depend on it.
According to Grubb, "MAM is powered by the support of local advocates across the country, including beneficiaries, caregivers, health care providers and community leaders." He added, "We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening the Medicare Advantage program, which serves over 34 million seniors and people with disabilities around the country, including 69% of Latino seniors and 65% of black seniors."
MAM statistics show that in Oklahoma alone, there are more than 338,000 seniors in the Medicare Advantage program. Grubb said, "The appeal of Medicare Advantage is that it delivers comprehensive, high quality and affordable care that goes beyond traditional fee-for-service Medicare, offering benefits like dental, vision, hearing, in-home care.
Grubb stressed that those are services that are not available in many of the traditional Medicare plans. And importantly, unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage provides prescription drug coverage and caps on out-of-pocket costs, which gives seniors financial peace of mind, especially during the high-cost inflationary times, at least on their selves and right now. According y Gtubb, this is an important program particularly for diverse and lower income populations, offering that reliable, low-cost healthcare coverage.
In regard to the federal budget fight, Grubb said MAM was encouraged that members of the House and Senate did not include language that would cut funding for Medicare Advantage during the budget negotiations. He added, "I'll say this, several Senate members floated the idea of adding provisions in their version on the Senate side that would undermine critical elements of Medicare Advantage and essentially cut funding. Conversley, over the last month, we saw seniors around the country make their voices heard and our grassroots army was happy to stand with them and to help to mobilize and ensure that it didn't happen during that process."
Grubb said, "President Trump campaigned on protecting Medicare. Any proposal that undermines Medicare Advantage has the potential to harm seniors. And it goes against the will of voters, including the president and Republican majorities in Washington."
In a MAM survey of seniors nationwide, the response was rather clear. A majority, 53 percent, believe that the federal government should actually increase funding for Medicare Advantage, not cut it. 69 percent of seniors are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports cuts.
If funding is cut, seniors are going to pay higher premiums. Grubb said, "They're going to pay higher deductibles. They're going to have higher out-of-pocket costs, upwards of $2,500 per year. And they're going to have less access to the doctors and the services they need." He added, "And again, in a time of high inflation, still trying to get that under control, Medicare Advantage's caps on out-of-pocket costs are important, especially for seniors on fixed income. One more thing, the majority of seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage have incomes under $25,000 per year. And so we believe that seniors' message to Congress is pretty clear."
Grubb underscored that seniors were a critical voting bloc in the presidential election of 2024. Seniors turned out at the highest rate of eligibility. Seventy-five percent of seniors over age 65 voted. That was the highest turnout of any demographic group. Very similar trend in the midterms in 2022.
Moving forward, Grubb said MAM is going to stay on our front foot. Grubb also said that the Medicare Advantage Majority will play a critical role in filling gaps. He said, "There are gaps in our health care system, particularly in our more rural and remote communities where health care has been underinvested in for far too long, quite frankly." He added, "There are a lot of rural communities that we need to be mindful of. And rural residents eligible for Medicare tend to have lower incomes and higher rates of multiple chronic health conditions than those living in an urban or city center. And Medicare Advantage can really help fill some of those care gaps through comprehensive services that many traditional Medicare plans don't offer."
Grubb reminded all that services like telehealth, prescription drug delivery, preventative care, wellness plan, are things covered in Medicare Advantage that could be really beneficial to rural communities.
In closing, Grubb said, "Our mission is to ensure that seniors and caregivers and family members and others have a voice with policymakers in this debate going forward. The best way to do that is at the local level, as you well know. And so I invite your listeners to go to our website, www.MedicareAdvantageMajority.org to learn more about the Medicare Advantage program, to learn more about our organization, and to sign a letter to urge your members of Congress to protect the strength of Medicare Advantage."
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