Resolution 1040 – Save our Medicare from total privatization
LEVEL THE MEDICARE PLAYING FIELD TO SAVE OUR MEDICARE FROM TOTAL PRIVATIZATION
WHEREAS, traditional Medicare was created in 1965 as a public good to provide a national health care system for seniors and the disabled in the United States and has proven to be our most efficient and effective public health care program with administrative costs accounting for only 2-3% of Medicare spending; and
WHEREAS, since the federal government has created various for-profit privatized health care programs within Medicare including Medicare Part D (prescription drugs), MediGap (supplemental plans to cover Medicare’s 20% copays), and Medicare Advantage which is permitted to take up to 15% of every Medicare dollar for administration and profits for managing Medicare claims; and
WHEREAS, recent reports* by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General, academic researchers, and investigative journalists have uncovered wide-ranging, fraudulent practices, confirming that upcoding, overpayments, delaying medically necessary care, and the denial of claims by insurers and other private businesses managing Medicare claims, together, account for defrauding the Medicare Trust Fund and Medicare beneficiaries by as much as $75 to $140 billion annually; and
WHEREAS, insurers and Wall Street are fiercely lobbying to gain a larger share of the soon-to-be $1.6 trillion of annual Medicare spending by further privatizing Medicare turning it into a profit center, thus hastening the depletion of the Medicare Trust Fund at a time when Medicare beneficiaries are among the most vulnerable populations served in health care, and need more, not fewer benefits;
Therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee states its opposition to Medicare privatization and urges our federal legislators and the Biden Administration to LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage so that Medicare beneficiaries will not suffer additional costs by choosing Traditional Medicare and will have a genuine choice between the public and private program as a step towards increasing healthcare equity by:
(1) eliminating the Traditional Medicare 20% co-pays and setting an out-of-pocket cap on medical expenses,
(2) adding benefits to traditional Medicare permitted in private Medicare Advantage plans (adding vision, dental and hearing,)
(3) eliminating the excessive administrative costs and profits in the Medicare Advantage and (Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO-REACH) programs, and
(4) recouping funds for the Medicare Trust Fund from the Medicare Advantage overpayments, fraud, and abuse that have been documented in academic studies, Congressional reports, and investigations by the Department of Health & Human Services* – and use the money thus saved to support a robust Traditional Medicare system that will lower costs and improve benefits, access, and equity in Traditional Medicare for all seniors and disabled beneficiaries;
And be it finally RESOLVED, that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee will send a copy of this Resolution to our two U.S. Senators and Congressional House members in their jurisdiction, as well as to President Biden and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
* References:
Our Payments Their Profits – Quantifying Overpayments in the Medicare Advantage Program, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), October 4, 2023. (Overpayments estimated at $88 – 140 billion annually) https://pnhp.org/system/assets/uploads/2024/01/MAOverpaymentReport_Oct2023.pdf
Overpayments to Medicare Advantage Plans Could Exceed $75 Billion in 2023, USC Schaeffer Center Research Finds, USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, June 13, 2023.
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/article/overpayments-to-medicare-advantage-plans-could-exceed-75-billion-in-2023-usc-schaeffer-center-research-finds/
https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/research/ma-enrolls-lower-spending-people-leading-to-large-overpayments/
Corporate Giants Buy Up Primary Care Practices at Rapid Pace, Reed Abelson, The New York Times, May 8, 2023.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/08/health/primary-care-doctors-consolidation.html
Medicare Advantage analysis and letter to President Biden and Administrator Brooks-LaSure, signed by members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Feb. 16, 2023. https://jayapal.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/230216-MA-Letter-Final-with-Signatures3.pdf
Deceptive Marketing Practices Flourish in Medicare Advantage. A Report by the Majority Staff of the US Senate Committee on Finance, Nov. 3, 2022.
https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/wyden-reports-deceptive-marketing-practices-in-medicare-advantage-that-harm-seniors
https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Deceptive%20Marketing%20Practices%20Flourish%20in%20Medicare%20Advantage.pdf
‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions, Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times, Oct. 8, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage-fraud-allegations.html
Some Medicare Advantage Organization Denials of Prior Authorization Requests Raise Concerns About Beneficiary Access to Medically Necessary Care. Report by the US Dept of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, April 27, 2022. https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-09-18-00260.asp
Submitted by Clallam County Democratic Party