.
<<<Email2Toot ROBOT -- CHECK ACTUAL AUTHOR BELOW:
EMAIL LIST: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org & LEMMY: https://lem.clinicians-exchange.org

-------- Forwarded Message --------

NOTES/ COMMENTS Re., “ROLLING MEDICAID PURGE….LARGEST CONCENTRATION OF
HEALTH INSURANCE LOSS IN US HISTORY"

* The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the urgent need for expansion ,
NOT REDUCTION, of the Medicaid health insurance program.
*  In too many states, political decisions by state legislators to
deny health insurance to thousands of their citizens has resulted in
an almost non-existent social and health safety net.

*  Decisions in 2016/2017 by 25 states to reject the expansion of
Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act resulted in an
estimated 7,115 and 17,104 more deaths than had all states opted in,
according to researchers at Harvard Medical School and the City
University of New York.
* The researchers found that because of the states’ “opting out” of
the Medicaid expansion, 7.78 million people who would have gained
coverage remained uninsured.
* To worsen the situation, many states have over the last decade
privatized administration of their Medicaid program into a managed
care program administered by the private profit health insurance
industry.

* The companies are paid by state government, and their profit depends
on spending as little as possible on Medicaid patients.
*  It’s hard to imagine any greater disconnect between public good
and private profit: the interest of private health insurance
companies lies not in the obvious social good of delivering quality
health care to patients but in having as few as possible treated as
cheaply as possible.
* No better example exists of a private capitalist enterprise that
feeds on the misery of man.

* You might think that we learned the lesson of discredited managed
care in the 1990s.
*  The term “managed care” is confusing to many, but really amounts
to managed reimbursement rather than managed care.
* A set prospective annual payment is made by federal/state
governments, as in the case of state Medicaid managed care, to cover
whatever services patients will receive over the coming year.
* There is therefore a built-in incentive for managed care
organizations to skimp on care and pocket more profits.

 Regards,
              Doug Stephenson. LCSW, BCD
              Gainesville, Florida

* ______________________________________________________________________________
*

* LINK: Rolling Medicaid Purge Called 'Largest Concentration of Health
Insurance Loss' in US History

https://www.commondreams.org/news/medicaid-insurance-loss

~~~
 #health #healthcare #medicare #medicareadvantage #medicare-for-all
#medicaid #healthsafetynet #managedcare #ACA #affordablecareact #obamacare>>>
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can subscribe at @PsychResearchBot

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<<<Email2Toot ROBOT -- CHECK ACTUAL AUTHOR BELOW:
EMAIL LIST: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org & LEMMY: https://lem.clinicians-exchange.org

TITLE: Interesting comments from editor of NAKED CAPITALISM re., "M4A,
NOT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE"

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Hi:

      FYI, very interesting comments from Ms.Yves Smith, editor of the
website, “Naked Capitalism”:

               (Posted on August 24, 2023 by Yves Smith)

"Yves here. This post provides an important, detailed takedown of the
travesty known as Medicare Advantage. If you are in the US and watch
what I call old people TV (syndicated classics and crime shows), you’ll
be bombarded by Medicare Advantage come-ons at this time of year. The
fact that Medicare Advantage is profitable enough to support close to
blanket-level commercials should tell you that not enough of the premium
dollars are going for health care.

Medicare Advantage is serving as a second-tier scheme for
budget-stressed Social Security recipients, since many plans are
nominally “no fee,” as in there is no deduction from Social Security
payments, unlike for Medicare B (doctor coverage) and D (prescription
coverage). But since there is no such thing as a free lunch, the lack of
premiums is recouped via skimpier coverage.

But even worse, the health insurance industry hopes to increase the
market share of Medicare Advantage and eventually displace traditional
Medicare, and it has far too many supporters in Congress and the
Administration.

Please circulate this post widely, particularly to those of Medicare
age. And in particular, exhort recipients to contact their Congress
critters and support legislation (“The Medicare for All Act of 2023”
House Bill, (H.R. 3421, and Senate Bill S. 1655, which would end
Medicare Advantage, as well as the stealth private insurer takeover of
traditional Medicare via Direct Contracting Entities and REACH plans,
described in detail below.

Also note the shout out to Michael Hudson!"

Regards,
                Doug Stephenson, LCSW, BCD
                GNV, FL
__________________________________________

LINK TO NAKED CAPITALISM:

Medicare for All, Not Medicare Advantage

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/medicare-for-all-not-medicare-advantage.html

 #health #healthcare #medicare #medicareadvantage #medicare-for-all
__________________________________________________>>>
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NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can subscribe at @PsychResearchBot

Humana is suing the Biden administration over Medicare Advantage audit rule.

An explanation of what the lawsuit is about:

https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/01/humana-sues-medicare-advantage-audit/

#health #healthcare #medicine #insurance #healthinsurance #medicare #CMS #MedicareAdvantage

Congressional Dems, Activists 'Raise the Alarm' About Medicare Advantage 'Scam'
"It is time to call out so-called Medicare Advantage for what it is," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro. "It's private insurance that profits by denying coverage and using the name of Medicare to trick our seniors."..#MedicareAdvantage..

Warning: Signing up for a Medicare Advantage Plan can be hazardous to your health.
#MedicareAdvantage
https://wendellpotter.substack.com/p/medicare-advantage-plans-have-potentially?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Progressive Democrats warn about Medicare Advantage abuses and criticized Biden for "delaying promised curbs on Medicare Advantage plans amid heavy insurance industry lobbying." We can never count on Biden to go up against the insurance industry.

#MedicareAdvantage
https://www.commondreams.org/news/medicare-advantage?share_id=7770327&utm_campaign=RebelMouse&utm_content=Common+Dreams&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

The $20 Billion Scam At The Heart Of Medicare Advantage: As Medicare privatization continues, insurers are milking massive profits from systematic overbilling and kneecapping modest Biden proposals to stop the scheme.
#medicareadvantage #medicare

https://www.levernews.com/the-20-billion-scam-at-the-heart-of-medicare-advantage/

Remember that many proposals in 2020 by liberals like Copmala pretending to be #Medicare4All were in fact fake bait-and-switch scams to further #MedicareAdvantage privatization.

That's why I insist on #SinglePayer and #USNHS (a genuine nationalized healthcare system with NO profiteering whatsoever).

(h/t @rchusid)

https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/27/ahip-protest-medicare-advantage/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter_organic&utm_source=twitter

https://med-mastodon.com/@rchusid/110644880819093356

Protests against Medicare Advantage for restricting care.

#MedicareAdvantage https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/27/ahip-protest-medicare-advantage/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter_organic&utm_source=twitter

Care Denied: The Dirty Secret Behind #MedicareAdvantage
https://www.levernews.com/care-denied-the-dirty-secret-behind-medicare-advantage/

It’s about time to decouple our health care system from privately held for-profit corporations. Clearly Acadia, a large corporation which owns over 250 behavior health facilities and “is poised to expand” made its $81M from pandemic relief funds. Reminds me of the Humana hospital closure in Philadelphia and the deceptively named #MedicareAdvantage GovJayInslee https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/mental-health/whats-behind-the-momentous-move-to-close-a-wa-for-profit-psych-hospital/

#MedicareForAll vs. #medicareadvantage

https://youtu.be/ggiDgyODpHY

The Medicare Advantage scam. “The scholarship shows that when patients get sick, they try to go back to traditional Medicare.”

#Medicare #MedicareAdvantage

https://www.levernews.com/the-20-billion-scam-at-the-heart-of-medicare-advantage/

@BrendanSinclair Prior authorization is a way to bump up the corporate profit. #MedicareAdvantage

CMS's solution is perverse: they're working with Humana to expand #MedicareAdvantage (a scam that convinces patients to give up Medicare and enrol in a private insurance program, whose private-sector death panel rejects 13% of claims that Medicare would have paid for). The program will pay private companies $32,000 for every patient who agrees to cease care and die. As our friends on the right like to say, "incentives matter."

17/

HAVING MEDICARE ADVANTAGE DOUBLES YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF DYING FROM SOME CANCER SURGERIES

Cancer patients with MA who had their stomach or liver removed were 1.5 times more likely to die within the first month after surgery compared to their peers with traditional Medicare. And MA beneficiaries who had oncologic surgery on the pancreas were two times as likely to die within the first month.

The Hill: #MedicareAdvantage is not an advantage for many seniors with cancer
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/3963071-medicare-advantage-is-not-an-advantage-for-many-seniors-with-cancer/

SO CALLED "MEDICARE ADVANTAGE* CAN CRIPPLE YOU IN THE RACE AGAINST CANCER

MA beneficiaries are far less likely than traditional Medicare beneficiaries to receive cancer care at a teaching hospital (23 percent with Medicare versus 8 percent with MA), Commission on Cancer-accredited hospital (57 percent versus 33 percent) or NCI-CCC (15 percent versus 3 percent).

#MedicareAdvantage is not an advantage for many seniors with cancer
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/3963071-medicare-advantage-is-not-an-advantage-for-many-seniors-with-cancer/

#MEDICAREDISADVANTAGE

@tanyatussing
Haven’t watched the video yet but Stoller’s piece is very powerful. Couldn’t help thinking that these *vertically integrated* HC megacorps sound like organized crime. The @ProPublica piece he mentioned is well worth reading although it may make your blood boil. For more about #MedicareAdvantage PNHP is a good resource: https://pnhp.org/?s=Medicare+advantage

Finally, you hit the nail on the head. Markets are an inefficient & dangerous way to deliver HC.

#news #MedicareAdvantage #Health

How Medicare Advantage denies care

https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/13/medicare-advantage-plans-denial-artificial-intelligence/

""Behind the scenes, #insurers are using unregulated predictive #algorithms, under the guise of scientific rigor, to pinpoint the precise moment when they can plausibly cut off payment for an older #patient's #treatment. The denials are... often delaying treatment of seriously ill #patients who are neither aware of the algorithms, nor able to question their calculations.'"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-ai-medicare-advantage
#Biden Urged to Crack Down on 'Terrifying' Use of #AI by #MedicareAdvantage Insurers

#IAmDB