Comments | Mehmet Oz likes to advertise this low-cost Medicare site
There are many reasons to oppose Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz is a snake oil salesman who has promoted quack cures on television and bogus weight loss products. He has no experience leading a large system, never mind a large health care like CMS. But Oz’s record on Medicare, which covers about 66 million people, should be of great concern to us.
History suggests that Oz will want to boost Medicare Advantage — and that he will do it with Trump’s support.
History suggests that Oz will want to boost Medicare Advantage, to continue the program — and that he will do it with Trump’s support. This in turn will drain government funding while leaving many elderly people vulnerable.
In fact, Medicare Advantage is a perfect target for the volunteer commission known as the Department of Government Operations, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which is rightfully bent on making the government go bankrupt. and expensive.
But don’t hold your breath.
Oz, in one of his best positions, pushed for health coverage – but he didn’t push for Medicare for All but Medicare. Good for All. In the 2020 opinion, he and a co-author concluded that Americans in Medicare Advantage are using the program “with great success.”
This, to put it bluntly, is a lie.
Medicare Advantage now covers more older Americans than traditional Medicare. Proponents said it would save the U.S. government money and offer more choice in care by offering extras like eye exams and physical therapy memberships, things traditional Medicare doesn’t. Anyone familiar with the ins and outs of American business and capitalism should have immediately seen the fraud here, but Americans want to forever believe in the power and good faith of the free market. .
Instead, Medicare Advantage costs the government billions of dollars more a year while providing a narrow network of doctors and hospitals and throwing one administrative hurdle after another. one in the way of patients seeking treatment. In many cases, this leads to fewer health outcomes than those enrolled in the first program.
Traditional Medicare offers more and is more bang for the buck. It spends an estimated 2% of its operating income on administration. Medicare Advantage, on the other hand, spends 550% more, and 13 cents of every dollar goes to cover everything from claims agents to salaries. of directors.
At the same time, a growing number of health care organizations that offer Medicare Advantage plans continue to be funded. Total plan limits covering Americans over age 65 are more than double those of other health insurance offerings, including coverage Americans receive through their employers. Such benefits are helping to fuel mergers and acquisitions by health care giants, which are putting more pressure on America’s health care system.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Medicare Advantage is rife with suspected fraud. The government is suing United Healthcare, saying it is scanning its subscribers’ medical records to make them appear sicker in order to collect more money from the government.
It is often when a person is struggling with an illness that the privatization of Medicare becomes clear
So why would someone sign up? Medicare Advantage can seem like a lot of money for young, healthy adults living on fixed incomes, for whom a free gym membership is more desirable than ensuring A suitable and well-regarded hospital or rehab center is included in the coverage.
Moreover, famous people like, Dr. In Oz, they encourage people to sign up for Medicare Advantage. As The Lever reports, Oz addressed Medicare Advantage on his eponymous television talk show, including at least one segment sponsored by the insurance agency where viewers were urged to call an 800 number ASAP to sign up.
Those numbers will surely increase. The first Trump administration promoted Medicare Advantage, and it looks like that will be the case this time as well. The infamous 2025 Plan continues this policy, calling for it to be the default option for first-time enrollees under the federal health care plan for older adults. .
It is often when a person is struggling with an illness that Medicare minimums become clear. Also, the taxpayer is always stuck with the debt. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal found that between 2016 and 2022, people in their last year of life switched from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare at twice the rate of other authors, which consumed government billions of dollars. Maybe it’s because they — or their families — find they need more care than Medicare Advantage plans provide.
That Oz loves Medicare Advantage and thinks it’s for everyone, regardless of age, should come as no surprise. Like the president who once appointed him to run CMS, he is a rebel at heart. (A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2014 found that less than half of the medical recommendations on the TV show Oz were supported by evidence. In the early days of the coronavirus epidemic, he also, against the evidence, recommended chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to work in the treatment of that virus.)
Pushing Medicare Advantage is nothing if not a marketing exercise. But Medicare people need a champion, one who will prioritize their health over the financial health of the big insurers who want to make money off of aging Americans. There is nothing in the report to suggest that Oz is the right man for the job – and to suggest that he is not.
#Comments #Mehmet #likes #advertise #lowcost #Medicare #site