Protect Medicare from corporate greed!
Petition to President Biden:
We urge you to hold health insurance companies accountable for their practices in Medicare advantage, including predatory marketing tactics, care denials, shrinking networks, and overbilling Medicare by billions of dollars.
The U.S. Senate just held a hearing on health insurance corporations using predatory, deceptive advertising to get people to enroll in their private Medicare Advantage plans.1 But insurance companies are not only taking advantage of seniors with marketing, care denials, and shrinking networks, they’re taking advantage of the entire Medicare program, taxpayers, and the U.S. government.
9 of the top 10 private insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage plans have overbilled Medicare between $12 and $25 billion, taking money away from patients who really need resources.2 The U.S. government and whistleblowers have accused six of those top companies of outright Medicare fraud.3
President Biden and his administration have a responsibility to crack down on private Medicare Advantage plans in order to protect Medicare, ensure patients get the care they need, and stop private insurers from gaming the system.
Sign the petition: Urge President Biden to hold giant private health insurance companies like UnitedHealth and Cigna accountable. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must make sure insurance corporations provide adequate care and end their deceptive practices in Medicare Advantage!
Congress created Medicare Advantage 20 years ago to create a private alternative to traditional Medicare in order to provide better care at lower costs.4 Instead, costs have gone up and private insurance companies have siphoned billions from Medicare.
One big reason costs have gone up: The New York Times reports that giant private insurers, “have developed elaborate systems to make their patients appear as sick as possible, often without providing additional treatment” so the insurers could charge those patients more for their Medicare plans.5
That means corporate executives are padding their bank accounts and flying on private jets at the expense of one of the most important government programs in America. CEOs shouldn’t be getting richer off of taxpayer funds meant to fund health care for seniors and disabled people. This corporate greed is disgusting.
Private insurance companies are wasting taxpayer dollars, threatening the integrity of Medicare, and putting patients’ health at risk. We can’t let big corporations continue to suck away money from Medicare and deny care to patients.
Sign the petition: President Biden must crack down on Medicare Advantage!
Sources:
- Center for Medicare Advocacy, “Senate Finance Committee Holds Hearing on Medicare Advantage Marketing Misconduct,” October 19, 2023.
- New York Times, “‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions,” October 8, 2022.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.