Medicare Advantage plans are killing seniors and bankrupting hospitals. Now the Trump administration is preparing to make them mandatory, ending Medicare as we know it.
It seems that the US has descended into a total free-for-all for big business to make as much money as it can, while it can! But what amazes me is the fact the US public (aside from Mangione) is going along with it. Trump is dismantling everything that's been built over the past 60-70 years! I'm astounded.
America has always had its share of that sort. Read about the battles FDR and his Labor Sec, Frances Perkins, went through for their New Deal, for just one famous example!
But agreed, it's disheartening and frightening to see how many die-hard fans and fools this Pres has backing him.
Well written Mr. Zaitchik. The use of another wealthy rube to dismantle a program that helps the elderly and the poor seems to be a theme. Robber barons. All of them.
The new system evolving by our neglect of most if not all our social programs will eventual be usurped and privatized by our current oligarchal system of governing/dictatorship. The wizard of Oz and Trump's other merry men are systematically turning our Constitutional rights into the dust bin of history. I can see the smile of our founding father's as men were never created equal only white christian men/the oligarchs and their minions/white christian (and now included to the fold zionist Jews).
The smile of the Founding Fathers? You've clearly never read them, or the Constitution, nor know any history. They were the first government in the western world to get religion OUT of the laws, to finally put an end to 1500 years of inquisitions, crusades, massacres and heretic-burnings. And most of them were Deists, not Christian.
That "all men are created equal" was a DECLARATION, and a very new one, they hoped would prove true in time - even though none of the southern slave-owning colonies would sign anything specifically against slavery at that time.
Jefferson called the Haudenosuanee the "New Canaanites" . Those founding fuckers were devout Calvinist Capitalist slave rapers. Wakey wakey 😀 or just stay in your ignorance and delusion. The slaughter of Natives by the U.S. Government is the largest genocide in world history by tens of millions more lives destroyed than any other ideology or government ever committed. Ever heard of what the pervert Popes called "Manifest Destiny"?
Phew!! What a mishmash! The "New Canaanites" refers to the Mormons who only became known after Jefferson died. As did Andrew Jackson, whose "Indian Removal Act" was responsible for most of the slaughter of Native Americans --apart from some earlier ones by the Puritans in the 1600s, a century or more before the Founders lived. You could also look into the Spanish Conquistadors of the 1500s. They indeed slaughtered millions. Read Las Casas' first-hand account. (But they were Catholics, not Calvinists).
Jefferson corresponded with the Cherokees (I'm part Cherokee, btw) and wrote admiringly of the Indians in his "Notes on Virginia" - one of only two books he wrote. And he was brought up Anglican, not Calvinist, before he became a deist. John Adams also wrote fondly of Indian neighbors who used to visit his family in his letters to Jefferson. Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828, defeating his son, John Quincy Adams, the incumbent president - two years after John Adams died.
"Manifest Destiny" was a term coined by a journalist in 1845, when all the founders were long dead. It was originally a complaint about European interference that turned into a catch-phrase Americans wanted to believe: that God wanted them to have all of north America. (https://www.britannica.com/event/Manifest-Destiny) So yes, I've heard of it.
I've also read a great many of the letters and writings of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison, etc., which you very clearly haven't, and written published articles about them.
So you're the one who needs to "wakey" and read their own words, instead of your screwball delusional sources, whatever they are. The internet abounds with them, so I won't even guess.
The Jewish history as minions (consensually and non-consensually) to Judeo-Christian Europeans in Europe and JC Euro-colonizers of the Americas goes back over 2 thousand years. Nothing new about that. Also, "White" is a skin tone racist 's term. Only Racists believe in skin tone Races. Please, stop promoting skin tone Racism through your posts. Thanks.
Thank you for writing this important article. Dr. Oz is the worst person to hire for this job!!!
I studied this whole Medicare "Industry" very well before I decided to just join plain Medicare. Medicare Advantage Plans are horrific and a rip off. Unfortunately, most seniors get "duped". God helps us Seniors if this "Oz" man gets involved!!! How do we fight this. How do we affect our Senators and Congress people to NOT approve his nomination??? Any advice is welcomed!
Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems you've neglected to mention why seniors like me, though I was given a heads up by my wealthy sister that I would regret my decision, signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan. It was cheaper! Most of us don't find out until too late that these plans limit coverage and require pre-authorization. I think if the government wants to protect Medicare it should make it illegal to bury such critical details in the fine print. Or maybe it should simply ban private "alternative" plans. This would be the best way to protect Medicare, which, like any single-payer system, is by far the cheapest way to protect the most people. Any time you create competitive pools you raise the price. This is fine with handbags but health care is a right, not a privilege. Many seniors are more fearful of not being able to pay their bills than of getting cancer.
The whole point of regulation of this type used to be to protect unwary and/or impulsive people from making poor choices. The housing crisis in 2008 was such a situation. Deregulation in the name of "market freedom" almost took down the global economy. Did we learn? Nope. We the people are letting our feckless leaders lead us down the same primrose path with our health. So no it's not "marketing" that hooks us, but price. If the pool included all of us, the price would plummet—and doctors could get back to would practicing medicine again!
As stomach-churning as this sordid story is, what disturbs me further is that it is yet another example of the insidious and invidious subterfuge of "the public interest", "the general welfare", "the commons", "the commonweal", however one chooses to describe our common humanity. Instead, whatever that rightly and of necessity belongs to "the community at large" is appropriated by those ever-greedy interests whose only measure in life is money (augmented by a contempt for others and a dismissiveness and cynicism toward anything beyond them). In effect, "the commons" is being carved up into subdivisions, "developed", and sold off. It is only all too fitting that a real estate magnate (maggot?) who has filed for bankruptcy six times now occupies the White House (once termed "The People's House" and now a Tesla dealership).
"Dr." Mehmet Cengiz Oz is as phony as the man behind the curtain in the movie "The Wizard of Oz." He and the traitor called tRump will ruin our country for their own benefit. Also remember that tRump, the wannabe dictator stated: "Vote for me and you will never have to vote again." Keep that in mind at the next election- if there is another election.
Thank you Alexander for shedding light on what mainstream media refuses to confront, having already surrendered to the 'emperor.'
You have vividly captured the troubling intersection of healthcare, politics, and corporate greed. The immense lobbying power of major insurers is undeniably shaping policy decisions, perpetuating what can only be described as legalized corruption. The privatization of Medicare, as you have outlined, threatens to have devastating consequences for millions of recipients like me, where profit motives consistently overshadow patient care.
What if the courts are unable to push back or have decided to throw in their lot with these blood suckers? Won't the unchecked greed of the Oligarchy lead us to desperation and to a breaking point, forcing more of us to consider following in the footsteps of a lone, brave individual like Mangione? With 68 million people currently enrolled in Medicare, 90% of whom are 65 years and older—could even 10% of us rise up and take to the streets in mass action?
History has proven that collective action can drive change, but it demands careful planning to ensure that the message is clear: we must stop them from dismantling a system that has worked seamlessly since 1965 and prevent them from sending us to premature deaths.
Why Dr. OZ? Was hia TV program cancelled? Will he hire Oprah for something? He does owe her. Didn't he lose the PA primary? Can't Trump find a non-DEI candidate in Physicians for Social Responsibilty? The other probem is that you must be referred to a specialist from a GP and few doctors are signing up for GP world. There is no money in it. Better to be a cardiologist. I live in Mexico where you can get a specialist's appt in a matter of days - the catch is, you pay out of pocket. I did NOT give up my Medicare card when moving here as many did. For all its faults, many expats here return to what they view is the fascist US in order to use it.
The first question when Medicare Advantage is proposed should be how do you justify paying more for less coverage, adding caps to coverage, limiting doctors you can see and supporting statistics that demonstrate Medicare Advantage costs more for less care. Ralph Nader sums it up perfectly with the term Medicare Disadvantage. These programs would be a good place for Musk to look for waste, fraud and abuse, it abounds. Many of our legislators are bribed (campaign donations) to support corporate power, good reason none of them point this out.
The commercials say that Medicare Advantage is supplemental. I believed it. So you can't be surprised that the public is confused. We need nationwide broadcasting of commercials that counter that narrative. Something that tells people to stop believing the Medicare Advantage advertising.
It seems that the US has descended into a total free-for-all for big business to make as much money as it can, while it can! But what amazes me is the fact the US public (aside from Mangione) is going along with it. Trump is dismantling everything that's been built over the past 60-70 years! I'm astounded.
So depressing!
America has always had its share of that sort. Read about the battles FDR and his Labor Sec, Frances Perkins, went through for their New Deal, for just one famous example!
But agreed, it's disheartening and frightening to see how many die-hard fans and fools this Pres has backing him.
Well it’s not so much his support, it’s the fact that he has so little opposition.
Well written Mr. Zaitchik. The use of another wealthy rube to dismantle a program that helps the elderly and the poor seems to be a theme. Robber barons. All of them.
The new system evolving by our neglect of most if not all our social programs will eventual be usurped and privatized by our current oligarchal system of governing/dictatorship. The wizard of Oz and Trump's other merry men are systematically turning our Constitutional rights into the dust bin of history. I can see the smile of our founding father's as men were never created equal only white christian men/the oligarchs and their minions/white christian (and now included to the fold zionist Jews).
Refuse Fascism
Oppose Oppression
People
Planet
Peace
dear comrades
*Palestine will be free
God willing and with our help* please help
The smile of the Founding Fathers? You've clearly never read them, or the Constitution, nor know any history. They were the first government in the western world to get religion OUT of the laws, to finally put an end to 1500 years of inquisitions, crusades, massacres and heretic-burnings. And most of them were Deists, not Christian.
That "all men are created equal" was a DECLARATION, and a very new one, they hoped would prove true in time - even though none of the southern slave-owning colonies would sign anything specifically against slavery at that time.
Jefferson called the Haudenosuanee the "New Canaanites" . Those founding fuckers were devout Calvinist Capitalist slave rapers. Wakey wakey 😀 or just stay in your ignorance and delusion. The slaughter of Natives by the U.S. Government is the largest genocide in world history by tens of millions more lives destroyed than any other ideology or government ever committed. Ever heard of what the pervert Popes called "Manifest Destiny"?
Phew!! What a mishmash! The "New Canaanites" refers to the Mormons who only became known after Jefferson died. As did Andrew Jackson, whose "Indian Removal Act" was responsible for most of the slaughter of Native Americans --apart from some earlier ones by the Puritans in the 1600s, a century or more before the Founders lived. You could also look into the Spanish Conquistadors of the 1500s. They indeed slaughtered millions. Read Las Casas' first-hand account. (But they were Catholics, not Calvinists).
Jefferson corresponded with the Cherokees (I'm part Cherokee, btw) and wrote admiringly of the Indians in his "Notes on Virginia" - one of only two books he wrote. And he was brought up Anglican, not Calvinist, before he became a deist. John Adams also wrote fondly of Indian neighbors who used to visit his family in his letters to Jefferson. Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828, defeating his son, John Quincy Adams, the incumbent president - two years after John Adams died.
"Manifest Destiny" was a term coined by a journalist in 1845, when all the founders were long dead. It was originally a complaint about European interference that turned into a catch-phrase Americans wanted to believe: that God wanted them to have all of north America. (https://www.britannica.com/event/Manifest-Destiny) So yes, I've heard of it.
I've also read a great many of the letters and writings of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison, etc., which you very clearly haven't, and written published articles about them.
So you're the one who needs to "wakey" and read their own words, instead of your screwball delusional sources, whatever they are. The internet abounds with them, so I won't even guess.
The Jewish history as minions (consensually and non-consensually) to Judeo-Christian Europeans in Europe and JC Euro-colonizers of the Americas goes back over 2 thousand years. Nothing new about that. Also, "White" is a skin tone racist 's term. Only Racists believe in skin tone Races. Please, stop promoting skin tone Racism through your posts. Thanks.
Thank you for writing this important article. Dr. Oz is the worst person to hire for this job!!!
I studied this whole Medicare "Industry" very well before I decided to just join plain Medicare. Medicare Advantage Plans are horrific and a rip off. Unfortunately, most seniors get "duped". God helps us Seniors if this "Oz" man gets involved!!! How do we fight this. How do we affect our Senators and Congress people to NOT approve his nomination??? Any advice is welcomed!
Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems you've neglected to mention why seniors like me, though I was given a heads up by my wealthy sister that I would regret my decision, signed up for a Medicare Advantage plan. It was cheaper! Most of us don't find out until too late that these plans limit coverage and require pre-authorization. I think if the government wants to protect Medicare it should make it illegal to bury such critical details in the fine print. Or maybe it should simply ban private "alternative" plans. This would be the best way to protect Medicare, which, like any single-payer system, is by far the cheapest way to protect the most people. Any time you create competitive pools you raise the price. This is fine with handbags but health care is a right, not a privilege. Many seniors are more fearful of not being able to pay their bills than of getting cancer.
The whole point of regulation of this type used to be to protect unwary and/or impulsive people from making poor choices. The housing crisis in 2008 was such a situation. Deregulation in the name of "market freedom" almost took down the global economy. Did we learn? Nope. We the people are letting our feckless leaders lead us down the same primrose path with our health. So no it's not "marketing" that hooks us, but price. If the pool included all of us, the price would plummet—and doctors could get back to would practicing medicine again!
As stomach-churning as this sordid story is, what disturbs me further is that it is yet another example of the insidious and invidious subterfuge of "the public interest", "the general welfare", "the commons", "the commonweal", however one chooses to describe our common humanity. Instead, whatever that rightly and of necessity belongs to "the community at large" is appropriated by those ever-greedy interests whose only measure in life is money (augmented by a contempt for others and a dismissiveness and cynicism toward anything beyond them). In effect, "the commons" is being carved up into subdivisions, "developed", and sold off. It is only all too fitting that a real estate magnate (maggot?) who has filed for bankruptcy six times now occupies the White House (once termed "The People's House" and now a Tesla dealership).
"Dr." Mehmet Cengiz Oz is as phony as the man behind the curtain in the movie "The Wizard of Oz." He and the traitor called tRump will ruin our country for their own benefit. Also remember that tRump, the wannabe dictator stated: "Vote for me and you will never have to vote again." Keep that in mind at the next election- if there is another election.
Thank you Alexander for shedding light on what mainstream media refuses to confront, having already surrendered to the 'emperor.'
You have vividly captured the troubling intersection of healthcare, politics, and corporate greed. The immense lobbying power of major insurers is undeniably shaping policy decisions, perpetuating what can only be described as legalized corruption. The privatization of Medicare, as you have outlined, threatens to have devastating consequences for millions of recipients like me, where profit motives consistently overshadow patient care.
What if the courts are unable to push back or have decided to throw in their lot with these blood suckers? Won't the unchecked greed of the Oligarchy lead us to desperation and to a breaking point, forcing more of us to consider following in the footsteps of a lone, brave individual like Mangione? With 68 million people currently enrolled in Medicare, 90% of whom are 65 years and older—could even 10% of us rise up and take to the streets in mass action?
History has proven that collective action can drive change, but it demands careful planning to ensure that the message is clear: we must stop them from dismantling a system that has worked seamlessly since 1965 and prevent them from sending us to premature deaths.
I've posted it. This needs to go viral.
Really frightening.A real nightmare!
Why Dr. OZ? Was hia TV program cancelled? Will he hire Oprah for something? He does owe her. Didn't he lose the PA primary? Can't Trump find a non-DEI candidate in Physicians for Social Responsibilty? The other probem is that you must be referred to a specialist from a GP and few doctors are signing up for GP world. There is no money in it. Better to be a cardiologist. I live in Mexico where you can get a specialist's appt in a matter of days - the catch is, you pay out of pocket. I did NOT give up my Medicare card when moving here as many did. For all its faults, many expats here return to what they view is the fascist US in order to use it.
The first question when Medicare Advantage is proposed should be how do you justify paying more for less coverage, adding caps to coverage, limiting doctors you can see and supporting statistics that demonstrate Medicare Advantage costs more for less care. Ralph Nader sums it up perfectly with the term Medicare Disadvantage. These programs would be a good place for Musk to look for waste, fraud and abuse, it abounds. Many of our legislators are bribed (campaign donations) to support corporate power, good reason none of them point this out.
The commercials say that Medicare Advantage is supplemental. I believed it. So you can't be surprised that the public is confused. We need nationwide broadcasting of commercials that counter that narrative. Something that tells people to stop believing the Medicare Advantage advertising.