[ As yet another scandal involving Medicare Advantage made
headlines this week, progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates renewed
calls to abolish the private health insurance program.]
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AS SCANDALS MOUNT, SO DO CALLS TO ABOLISH PRIVATE MEDICARE ADVANTAGE
PLANS  
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Brett Wilkins
December 13, 2022
Common Dreams
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_ As yet another scandal involving Medicare Advantage made headlines
this week, progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates renewed calls to
abolish the private health insurance program. _

Photograph Source: Molly Adams – CC BY 2.0 (CounterPunch),

 

AS YET ANOTHER SCANDAL involving Medicare Advantage made headlines
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week, progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates renewed calls to
abolish the private health insurance program that a recent Senate
report said
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"running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists."

"In reality, so-called 'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an
advantage."

In a new _Nation_ article
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with health insurance reform advocate Wendell Potter, Reps. Ro Khanna
(D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) contend that one of the most
confusing things facing elders while choosing their Medicare plans "is
a scheme by private insurance companies to prey on seniors and profit
off of the Medicare brand, all in the name of padding their corporate
profits and shareholder returns."

"The scheme is called Medicare Advantage. But in reality, so-called
'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage," wrote the
lawmakers, who earlier this year introduced legislation
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if passed, would ban private insurance plans from using the Medicare
name.

"It's actually just private insurance that uses the trusted Medicare
name to trick seniors and people with disabilities into enrolling,
then profits by denying coverage for necessary medical care," Khanna
and Pocan added. "It is long past time for Congress to end this scam
and ensure that consumers get accurate information about their
healthcare options."

On Monday, _Kaiser Health News_ detailed
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insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage plans "have repeatedly
tried to sidestep regulations requiring them to document medical
conditions the government paid them to treat."

The _KHN_ report said that government auditors "uncovered millions
of dollars in improper payments—citing overcharges of more than
$1,000 per patient a year on average—by nearly two dozen health
plans."

This follows a Senate Finance Committee report published
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month that found insurance companies and other brokers are making
false or misleading claims to dupe senior citizens into purchasing
Medicare Advantage plans.

An investigation published in October by _The New York Times_ found
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insurance companies are exploiting Medicare Advantage plans to rake in
billions of dollars in excess profits.

In April, the inspector-general's office at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services published
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report revealing that Medicare Advantage plans deny medically
necessary care to tens of thousands of enrollees each year.

Nearly half of Medicare's 60 million beneficiaries are currently
enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, and the majority of U.S. seniors
are expected
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signed up by next year.

The ACO-REACH program, a Trump-era scheme set to take effect on
January 1st that would shift some Medicare recipients to private
insurance plans without their knowledge or consent
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is also raising eyebrows and ire.

Hundreds of advocacy groups
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as well as the Arizona Medical Association
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the Seattle City Council
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the Texas State Democratic Executive Committee
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and the Austin AFL-CIO Council 
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called on the Biden administration to end ACO-REACH.

_Common Dreams_ reported
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that 21 progressive lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services Administrator Brooks-LaSure to investigate
ACO-REACH, which the signers said "provides an opportunity for
healthcare insurers with a history of defrauding and abusing Medicare
and ripping off taxpayers to further encroach on the Medicare system."

_[Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.]_

_Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to
republish and share widely._

* Medicare
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* Medicare Advantage
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* Healthcare
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* privatization
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* health insurance
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* National Health Insurance
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* private insurance
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* Congress
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* Labor Unions
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* Medicare for All
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* M4A
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* For Profit Health Care
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