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May 6, 2023 It’s official. Private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans now account for a majority of the entire Medicare program. According to recently released data, 30.19 million of the 59.82 million people with both Medicare Part A and Part B were enrolled in a private plan as of January 2023. |
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PNHP has been crystal clear about the many problems with MA. This program imposes intolerable restrictions on beneficiaries—from narrow provider networks to prior authorization requirements to high out-of-pocket costs—while generating billions in profits for Wall Street investors. That’s why we’ve called on the Biden administration to terminate Medicare Advantage and end this indefensible “partnership” with commercial health insurers. Thankfully, the rapid growth of MA has brought a new level of scrutiny from federal watchdogs, media, and activists. PNHP has developed a series of resources that detail the most egregious problems with the program; we encourage you to read and share this information with everybody who cares about the future of Traditional Medicare: |
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More info on Medicare Disadvantage - The Problem with Medicare Advantage, including a video overview from Dr. Ed Weisbart; PNHP’s one-page fact sheet; and our letter calling for the end of MA
- Medicare Advantage Under the Microscope, including a recent Congressional hearing on MA; a collection of damning federal investigations; and frontline stories collected by our friends at Healthcare-NOW
- Medicare Advantage in the News, including a blockbuster New York Times report on fraud allegations and lawsuits levied against MA insurers; plus podcasts, news stories, and opinion pieces
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This latest milestone should be a wakeup call for single-payer activists: We cannot allow commercial insurers to turn our beloved public Medicare program into a shell of its former self and compromise the future of the Medicare-for-All movement. That’s why PNHP has made corporate profiteering one of the cornerstones of our 35th anniversary campaign. |
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Take action! Push back against Medicare privatization - Write a letter to the editor or op-ed calling for the end of MA
- Keep an eye out for our Kitchen Table Campaign on MA in July
- Host a house party at the end of July to celebrate the anniversary of Medicare and demand an end to profiteering—email lo...@pnhp.org for more info
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Please also consider making a tax-deductible donation to PNHP’s 35th anniversary fund, which will allow us to build a much stronger organization and movement to confront the power of commercial insurance companies. It should be clearer than ever that Medicare Advantage is at the forefront of a worrying trend in U.S. health care—the capturing of public programs by private entities that extract as much profit as possible while leaving patients, doctors, and taxpayers in the lurch. We need to raise our voices in opposition to this trend while guiding health policy in an entirely different direction: towards a truly public single-payer national health program. In solidarity, |
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Phil Verhoef, M.D., Ph.D.
President |
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