The Battle of the Letters: Medicare Advantage

Occasional fistfights aside, most of our legislators make the choice to use their words when they’re angry, and a lot of those words go into public letters they write to presidents, officials, and even each other. Despite the fact that no one else in this country has written or read a letter in decades, the…

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Call your Representative About Medicare Advantage!

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY ABOUT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE! What is Medicare Advantage? The Medicare Advantage program (“Medicare Part C”) originated in 1997 with the stated goal of providing “greater choice” to Medicare recipients by introducing insurance plans that would be funded by public Medicare dollars but administrated by private companies. Since then, each year has brought…

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Tell Us Your Medicare Advantage Story

TELL US YOUR MEDICARE ADVANTAGE STORY! Also called “Medicare Part C,” Medicare Advantage plans are privately administered plans offered by for-profit insurance companies but funded by public Medicare dollars. They’re advertised to potential customers as an inexpensive alternative to “traditional” Medicare. For insurers, Medicare Advantage is a goldmine – they can continue to profit off seniors and…

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Government insiders misappropriate funds to Medicare Advantage insurers

By Don McCanne for PNHP – U.S. to boost rather than cut payments to health insurers By Sandhya Somashekhar The Washington Post, April 1, 2013 The Obama administration reversed itself Monday, scrapping plans to cut by 2.2 percent the rates paid to health insurers that take part in the Medicare Advantage program. The insurance industry…

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Taking Advantage: Stories from the Front Lines of the Privatization of Medicare

Download a Printable Copy of the Report Here Medicare Advantage: Beyond the Ads The Medicare Advantage program (“Medicare Part C”) originated in 1997 with the stated goal of providing “greater choice” to Medicare recipients by introducing insurance plans that would be funded by public Medicare dollars but administrated by private companies. Since then, each year…

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More like Medicare Disadvantage, AMIRITE? 

Today we’re tackling Medicare Advantage, which is the option Medicare enrollees have to use a private insurance company to administer their Medicare benefits instead of the traditional public Medicare program. Almost HALF of all Medicare beneficiaries are now enrolled in Advantage plans, which represents a historic level of privatization of the almost 60-year program. Just…

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Medicare For All with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed

Today Ben interviews Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, physician, epidemiologist, professor, former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, and candidate for Governor of Michigan. Dr. El-Sayed is also the author of several books and publications, most recently Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide. Show Notes Dr. El-Sayed discusses how his desire to improve disparities in health…

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Keep Your Corporate Hands Off Our Medicare!

“Direct contracting” is the latest in a long line of insidious tactics pushing Medicare towards privatization. Today we’re chatting with Dr. Claire Cohen, MD from Physicians for a National Health Program about direct contracting entities: what they are, how they threaten beneficiaries of traditional Medicare, and what is being done to stop them. Show Notes…

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Medicare Expansion Gains Momentum & Victories!

Last podcast, we discussed expanding and improving Medicare, and since then there are a couple of major updates on the budget moving through Congress, with implications for the M4A movement! We also discuss the history of expanding and improving Medicare (or degrading, in the case of privatization). Show Notes Last podcast, we discussed expanding and…

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Week of Action: Expand Medicare!

Congress has an opportunity to make real steps towards Medicare for All this week. We go over the 4 proposed reforms that would expand Medicare, what’s at play and what’s at stake, the opposition to Medicare Expansion – if you can believe it – there IS opposition to giving seniors dental care – and what…

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