Apples to Apples Comparison Act of 2025

This bill aims to make Medicare spending easier to see and compare. It tells the Department of Health and Human Services to post yearly Medicare spending data on the CMS public website, broken out by county and metro area. The data must show total and average costs for different groups, such as people in traditional Medicare, people in Medicare Advantage, and whether they have drug coverage or other plans. Posting starts in 2025 and will include the past 10 years and up to 5 years of projections. The first 2025 release must also include enrollment details going back to 2015, by county and metro area .

Starting in 2026, the Medicare advisory commission (MedPAC) must publish an annual, public analysis comparing average costs for people in Medicare Advantage versus similar people in traditional Medicare. They must share their data and methods, take public comments, and respond to them. Also beginning in 2026, the Medicare Trustees must add spending details by enrollee type to their yearly reports and break out tables by these categories .

Key points

• Who is affected: HHS/CMS (publishes data), MedPAC (does annual comparisons), Medicare Trustees (expand report details), and the public who can view the data online .
• What changes: Public, county-level and metro-level Medicare spending data by enrollee type; a yearly MedPAC cost comparison; more detailed Trustee reports. The data covers the past 10 years and up to 5 years ahead; the 2025 release includes enrollment history back to 2015 .
• When: Data posting begins in 2025; MedPAC analysis and Trustee report changes start in 2026 .