Printable Version
June 7, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Retiree Advocate Says Medicare Advantage Helps Insurance Companies, Not Seniors
Program is a Form of “Corporate Welfare”
The following statement was issued today by Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans:
“The Alliance brings together over 3.5 million retirees from labor and community-based groups to create a progressive, grassroots movement to improve the health care and economic security of older Americans. We are here today to deliver a clear message to Congress and the Bush administration: It is time to end the corporate welfare in the Medicare Advantage program.
“Medicare Advantage gives a huge advantage to the big insurance companies. And it puts the Medicare program, and the millions who rely upon it, at a huge disadvantage. At a time when too many Americans are struggling to afford their health care bills and their prescription drugs, it is long past time we stop overpaying Medicare Advantage providers.
“This year alone, American taxpayers will overpay the insurance industry 7.5 billion dollars more than it would otherwise cost Medicare to serve the same people. And it is estimated that this cost will reach $160 billion over the next ten years.
“That is $160 billion which could otherwise be spent toward helping retirees better afford their health care and prescription drug costs. That is $160 billion which could go a long way towards eliminating the Medicare Part D asset test, closing the donut hole, or waiving the lifetime penalties for late enrollment.
“Was it any surprise that Wall Street was jubilant when Medicare recently announced a further increase in Medicare Advantage subsidies? So who does this program work for? Is it Wall Street? Or it is the American people who need more affordable health care? I think we know the answer to that question.
“Medicare Advantage threatens the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund. As the Bush Administration continues to sound alarms bells about the Trust Fund, they ought to start by ending these egregious subsidies to the insurance industry. The outrageous waste and abuse in the Medicare Advantage program is part of our larger, misguided privatization of Medicare.
“We’ve turned too much of Medicare over to Wall Street – at the expense of the people who need help on Main Street. Something is very wrong with our Medicare program – the big drug and insurance companies keep getting more, and retirees keep getting less.
“It is time to change this. It is time to end the corporate welfare subsidies in the Medicare Advantage program.”