2022-10-12 13:53:15

Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is "Heist" by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Many of the nation's largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by overbilling the U.S. government's Medicare Advantage program. A New York Times investigation has revealed that under the Advantage program, health insurance companies are incentivized to make patients appear more ill than they actually are. Some estimates find it has cost the government between $12 billion and $25 billion in 2020 alone. DemocracyNow speaks with former healthcare insurance executive Wendell Potter, now president ​​of the Center for Health and Democracy, who says Medicare Advantage will be recognized in years to come as the "biggest transfer of wealth" from taxpayers to corporate shareholders, and blames the lack of regulation over the program on the "revolving door between private industry and government."

Democracy Now! produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. Our reporting includes breaking daily news headlines and in-depth interviews with people on the front lines of the world’s most pressing issues. 

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Center for Health and Democracy Democracy Now! Medicare Advantage program. New York Times Wendell Potter

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