Medicare

About Medicare.

Medicare is a healthcare program in the United States that is available to people who are over 65 years old or have certain disabilities. Medicare provides medical insurance to cover doctor visits, hospital stays, and other medical expenses. There are two types of Medicare: Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Original Medicare is a not-for-profit benefit run by the government, while Medicare Advantage is a for-profit private insurance designed to make as much money as possible for insurance companies, healthcare providers, and the medical industry. Medicare Advantage patients cost the government much more than Traditional Medicare patients do, and Medicare Advantage denies services to patients even though Original Medicare pays for the service. Medicare-for-all could easily save billions of dollars. The healthcare industry spends billions of dollars bribing Congress for favors, and the Supreme Court has legalized bribery. Medicare Advantage is a scam that preys on seniors and costs the government billions of dollars more than Traditional Medicare. A Senate finance committee report shows that beneficiaries are being inundated with aggressive marketing techniques and false information by insurance agents selling new Medicare Advantage plans.

Politicians, Insurance Companies, Health Care Providers, and the Medical Industry are using a system of bribery to benefit from people getting sick. The original Medicare system is considered one of the best and most cost-effective ways to receive medical care in the world. However, participants are forced to pay a premium, a deductible, and cannot negotiate drug prices, which makes it not quite perfect.

Unfortunately, the people who use the bribery system are more interested in making money than providing good healthcare to people. The cost to run Original Medicare is only 1%. However, the alternative, called Medicare Advantage, charges fees of 20% or more. Medicare Advantage Insurance companies are allowed to keep up to 40% of the profit from what Medicare pays them. If they deny your claim, they still get to keep the money as if the procedure had been performed. In contrast, Original Traditional Medicare does not deny claims.

When people are unhappy with Medicare, they may be upset with the wrong thing. It's actually the private insurance company called Medicare Advantage that people should be angry with. The Bribe System wants people to be confused because they make money when people blame Medicare, but it's really Medicare Advantage that is at fault and fooling the public.

Many people do not know that Medicare and Medicare Advantage are not the same. Medicare is a program run by the government that is not designed to make a profit. On the other hand, Medicare Advantage is a type of private insurance that aims to make as much money as possible for Insurance Companies, Health Care Providers, and the Medical Industry. Patients who are part of Medicare Advantage cost the government much more than those who have Traditional Medicare. Additionally, Medicare Advantage may refuse to provide services that Original Medicare would cover.

Medicare is a benefit that you have earned, while Medicare Advantage is an extra cost that you and the government do not need. Medicare Advantage is a scam that costs the government over $7 billion dollars a year more than Traditional Medicare. This extra money goes straight into the pockets of insurance company CEOs and stockholders. The media makes money by selling ads to these insurance companies. The ads are paid for by the profits that Medicare Advantage makes by scamming people. These companies spend millions of dollars on TV ads to attract new customers. As long as the media is making a lot of money from Medicare Advantage, they won't tell you the truth about how it is stealing from you.

A Medicare-for-all program would save billions of dollars.

Insurance companies and hospitals in the US are making record profits, even during the pandemic. They're ignoring the rules set by Health and Human Services (HHS), which is why healthcare in the US is so expensive. Hospitals and insurance companies charge between 175% and 400% more than the Medicare rate for the same care. The problem is, people don't know they can file a complaint with CMS, and even if they do, it can take years to get resolved and can affect their credit score.

The US spends twice as much money per person on healthcare than any other developed country but has worse outcomes. This is because of the bloated insurance industry in the US that takes money out of the system. Over 500,000 Americans go bankrupt every year because of medical bills, and pharmaceutical prices in the US are much higher than anywhere else in the world. The Supreme Court legalized bribery, which is why there's so much money going to politicians and billionaires.

In 2021, the healthcare industry gave $689,466,798 to Congress Members and Senators for favors, and in 2020, they extracted $543 billion from the American people. This is money that's been stolen from us.

The Bribe System is also costing lives. A report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) estimates that a single-payer universal healthcare system could have saved around 212,000 lives in 2020, and it could save $438 billion per year during a non-pandemic year.

A report from the US Senate finance committee in November 2022 explains the fraud known as Medicare Advantage. The report reveals that many seniors are being tricked and preyed upon through deceptive marketing techniques used to promote the so-called “Advantage” program, which is an attempt to privatize Medicare. Complaints from Medicare beneficiaries about dubious marketing tactics have more than doubled in just the past twelve months. Fraudsters and scam artists are taking advantage of seniors through unscrupulous insurance companies, brokers, and third parties who use false advertising and in-person marketing to enroll beneficiaries without their consent.

Seniors are bombarded with aggressive marketing techniques, including false and misleading information. Insurance agents deceive seniors by saying that their doctors are covered by the Medicare Advantage plan, only to have beneficiaries discover later on that their doctor is actually out-of-network. Seniors are also being harassed by insurance agents who call them up to 20 times a day. Mailers that look like official business letters from the government and television advertisements with celebrities are also being used to pitch lies about Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

In addition to being deceptive, Medicare Advantage plans are also more expensive than traditional Medicare, as they get higher government payouts for sicker patients and have the incentive to exaggerate the sickness of enrollees. According to federal audits, 8 out of 10 of the largest companies submitted inflated bills, and four out of five of the very largest companies faced federal lawsuits accusing them of fraud. In 2020 alone, these exaggerated risk scores generated $12 billion in excess payments to Medicare Advantage fraudster insurance companies. Moreover, seniors on Medicare Advantage receive fewer services at a higher cost.

Private insurance companies have built a major cash cow out of systematically overbilling Medicare Advantage, the private Medicare program operated by private interests. These overpayments are symptomatic of a broader profit-driven policy agenda that seeks to completely privatize Medicare, one of the nation’s most popular social programs, and lock program recipients into subpar private insurance plans, even when they get sicker and need the best care possible.

Medicare Advantage plans have higher claim denial rates and more prior authorization restrictions than traditional Medicare plans. An Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in a brief dated April 2022, OEI-09-18-00260 found that nearly one in five payment requests rejected by Medicare Advantage plans in 2018 was wrongfully denied, representing an estimated 1.5 million claims. Benefiting health insurance companies over $2.8 billion in excessive profits per year.

Some Republican members of Congress want to phase out traditional Medicare within five years, even though this program is critical for many Americans. They claim that cutting Medicare is a top priority and are willing to force the U.S. government into default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling in order to get those cuts. This move could make Republicans and Bribers richer, but it would hurt seniors who depend on Medicare to stay healthy.

Topic Related Merchandise

Talking Points Information

The private “Advantage” plans continue to rip us all off; there’s a new round of busts of companies caught defrauding our government and every worker in America who’s paying into Medicare through their FICA payroll taxes.

Deceptive Marketing Practices Flourish In Medicare Advantage. A Report by the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, October 2022.

Republicans' 2022 scheme to increase taxes on the middle class and to kill Social Security & Medicare.

Stop the Medicare “Advantage” Scam Before Medicare is Dead.

The country's biggest 7 health insurers have had a greedy first 6 months of 2022. Their profits (largely subsidized by taxpayer dollars) have made their Wall Street masters exceedingly happy. Their bribing of politicians has allowed the Big 7 to amass an outsize market share in the Medicare Advantage and PBM markets.

Complaints about aggressive marketing tactics and other illegal issues connected with the private Medicare Advantage plans are surging. September 8, 2022.

Senate Report Details 'Latest Privatized Medicare Scandal' as Seniors Preyed Upon and Duped.

New York Times Article: How Insurers Exploited Medicare Advantage For Billions.

Why Is AARP Boosting Medicare Privatization?

Four Things to Think About When Choosing Between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans.

Website for Protect Medicare.

How to fight the greed of commercial health insurers and the dangers of allowing them to further infiltrate the Medicare system communications toolkit from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP):

 One-page handout: “The Problem with Medicare Advantage”

 PNHP statement: “CMS Should Terminate the Medicare Advantage Program” 

 PowerPoint slides: Medicare Advantage 2022 update, developed by Dr. Ed Weisbart 

 Podcast: “More like Medicare Disadvantage, AMIRITE?” featuring Dr. Susan Rogers 

The Lever - Why Is AARP Boosting Medicare Privatization?

The Lever - 2022 FLASHBACK: Exposing The Secret Medicare Privatization Spree

How Medicare Advantage Plans Dodged Auditors and Overcharged Taxpayers

My Mom's Medicare Advantage Journey

Khanna, Pocan Introduce Bill To Strengthen Medicare, Define Alternative Plans