Medicare star ratings get cleaned up to help seniors pick plans.
H.R. 10521 — MA STARS Act · Filed by Mike Kelly (R-PA) · Introduced Sep 21, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the federal government to fix star ratings. Seniors use these ratings to pick Medicare Advantage plans. It removes measures that don't show real clinical quality. It removes measures the plan doesn't control. It removes measures from bad surveys. It removes measures that don't show differences between plans. Two expert groups will check if surveys are good. They will check if the rating method works. The government must publish a yearly report. The report says which measures were removed and why. The new rules start in 2031.
Who it affects
Seniors who pick Medicare Advantage plans will see clearer star ratings. The ratings will better show which plans give good clinical care. Health plans will have stronger reasons to improve actual care.
One thing to notice
The bill waits until 2031 to start, giving plans five years to get ready.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 21, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 21, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Medicare Advantage — A type of health plan for seniors run by private companies but paid for by Medicare.
- star ratings — Scores from one to five stars that show how good a health plan is.
- clinical quality — How well a health plan helps people get better and stay healthy.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (7,723 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Medicare star ratings get cleaned up to help seniors pick plans.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10521/simple Report an error
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