HEALTH CARE un-covered As Medicare Advantage’s shortcomings echo in the press, key legislators still push to privatize traditional Medicare TRUDY LIEBERMAN MAR 7, 2024 Sixty-one members of Congress also made their preferences clear in a letter to Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, who heads the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, writing, “We are committed to our more than 32 million constituents across the United States who choose Medicare Advantage.” The letter was signed by prominent Democrats including Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority leader from New York; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who chairs the Senate aging committee. With such high-powered supporters of Medicare Advantage, it’s easy to see why it’s difficult to put the program on an even playing field with traditional Medicare and supplemental insurance coverage.
I’ve heard so many horror stories in a past job from seniors scammed into these Medicare Advantage plans, and who when they had a heart attack they wound up losing their house because of copays and coinsurance and deductibles. They do hard sales scaring people by showing up at their house and making them think that if they don’t sign up for these plans, they’ll be in jeopardy. Of course these sales people never mention traditional medicare and reasonable supplemental plans. They also sometimes try to sell these plans to disabled people who are completely dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and qualify for subsidized Medicare Part D so don’t actually even need a supplemental plan at all.
If you’re in Pennsylvania… Bob Casey’s contact page is here:
https://www.casey.senate.gov/contact/share