Letters to the Editor

Medicare Changes Could Deny Washington Residents Rehabilitation Care

To the Editor:

If you or a loved one needed rehabilitation after a stroke, would you want an insurance company—not your doctor—to decide if you get care? This is happening to Medicare Advantage patients right now in Iowa.

Policymakers continue to push for Medicare Advantage expansion, steering more seniors away from Traditional Medicare and into privatized insurance plans that routinely deny care. Right now, patients across Iowa are being denied access to inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs)—specialized hospitals where stroke survivors, brain injury patients, and post-surgical patients receive intensive therapy to regain independence. Instead of getting the care they need, patients are being forced into lower levels of rehabilitation that don’t fully meet their needs.

The consequences? Delayed recovery, preventable hospital readmissions, and higher healthcare costs.

A federal watchdog report found that Medicare Advantage plans wrongly deny care at alarming rates—including services that fully meet Medicare’s coverage rules. With over 31 million enrollees, this means hundreds of thousands—if not more—are denied medically necessary care each year. The reality is even worse for rehabilitation: a 2021 survey found that more than half of inpatient rehab requests to MA plans are initially denied, keeping patients from getting the care they need to recover.

This isn’t just a policy issue—it’s about people’s lives. Many stroke survivors in Iowa have been denied inpatient rehab and sent to lower levels of care. Too often, within weeks, they are back in the hospital with complications that could have been prevented.

If more Iowans are moved into Medicare Advantage plans, Washington residents could face even greater hurdles accessing rehabilitation. Many won’t realize this issue until they or a loved one are denied the care they expected and urgently need.

Ask your legislators these critical questions:

I urge all my fellow Washington residents to call or email their state and federal legislators and ask:

Do you support protecting access to inpatient rehabilitation through Traditional Medicare?

Will you hold Medicare Advantage plans accountable for unnecessary denials that harm patients?

What steps are you taking to ensure Medicare beneficiaries receive the care they need without bureaucratic barriers?

The decisions made about Medicare today will affect Washington families tomorrow. If we do nothing, more of our friends and neighbors will suffer needlessly. The time to act is now.

Please make your voice heard—before it’s too late.

Dr. Christopher R. Crossett

Cedar Rapids (formerly of Washington)