Healthcare Advocacy - Medicare Under Attack
December 31, 2022
Good Day Healthcare Advocates
First Happy New Year to all of you. I will be taking a brief pause after today and will resume on January 3rd, 2023.
Every day that we learn, grow and advocate for better healthcare for all of us is a good day. Thank you also to all of you advocates who have recently subscribed.
If there are specific healthcare topics you’d like to see addressed please send me a comment using the comment button. Thank you to those who have suggested topics, like Medicare reimbursement levels and sufficient access to care in a timely fashion. I will write about them in upcoming issues.
If you would like further discussion and details on today’s topic let me know and I will be happy to elaborate.
Mission
The Healthcare delivery system in the United States is a patchwork that leaves much to be desired. It is the most expensive system among the top 35 industrial countries and covers far fewer participants delivering lower levels of quality care than many of our peer nations. This blog will provide:
· Current problems in healthcare
· Actions you can take
· References.
Current State of Affairs – Medicare Under Assault
The government is considering a plan to modify Medicare called ACO-REACH. It stands for Accountable Care Organizations. It will put those with straight Medicare into managed networks without their consent to try and deliver care at lower cost.
This program was developed in the waning days of the Trump Administration. Since it is in house at CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) it requires no legislation to enact. They can just choose to do it.
I know we have been discussing private healthcare insurance and that having a for-profit company stand between you and your doctor is not in our best medical interest. This will be that on steroids. According to Jeff Johnson of Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), private insurance garners about 15% of the Medicare budget, this scheme will give private for-profit equity firms between 25% and 35% of the Medicare budget. Remember those firms have high overhead and have to generate a profit for investors.
ACO -EACH will pay middlemen a flat fee to “manage” seniors’ health, allowing them to keep 40% of what they don’t spend on care as profit and overhead. According to Dr. Susan Rogers of PNHP, “The ACO-REACH payment model establishes a dangerous incentive for middlemen to restrict patient care, an incentive that has never previously existed in Traditional Medicare”.
A presidential executive order is all that is needed to stop it right now. After that legislation will be needed to keep it from coming back.
This really is a call to action.
What You Can Do – Now Two Actions
First
Call or email the White House. You can do this frequently.
CALL AFTER JAN 2, 2023 Their phone number is 1-202-456-1111 Read the script below filling in the blanks .
EMAIL NOW You can also email them at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ cutting and pasting the script below. Make sure to delete the first line (My name is…) in the comment section.
My name is ______________ and I live in ___________(City), ____________(State).
We all deserve quality, transparent healthcare. Please issue an executive order to stop the Medicare ACO-REACH Program and protect Medicare from corporate raiding. ACO-REACH will pay middlemen a flat fee to “manage” seniors’ health, allowing them to keep 40% of what they don’t spend on care as profit and overhead. The ACO-REACH payment model establishes a dangerous incentive for middlemen to restrict patient care, an incentive that has never previously existed in Traditional Medicare. Americans deserve better and you can do it!! Thank you.
Second
30 senators are on the finance committee. We can contact our senators, if they are on the committee and ask that they hold open hearings on ACO-REACH to shine the bright public spotlight on what a bad deal it is. Use this link to contact senators.
Thank you – you are making healthcare better for all of us.
References
Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) has a number of good background on this subject
https://pnhp.org/news/physicians-to-hhs-rebranding-wont-fix-direct-contractings-fatal-flaws/
Done! ✅