REPUBLICANS (still) SCHEMING TO PRIVATIZE MEDICARE. [View all]
When they do this, it sounds like there will be no notice, no public comment period. Nothing. What will happen is that every senior who enrolls in Medicare will be forced onto Medicare Advantage and STUCK THERE for three years. Getting on traditional Medicare after that is difficult, if not impossible.
IOW, the default right now is for them to go on traditional Medicare, with MA as an option. SHitler wants to switch that around so that MA is the default and traditional Medicare is an option.
Seniors signing up for Medicare will have to be VERY CAREFUL to ensure that when they enroll, they REFUSE the MA plan and choose traditional Medicare Part B. This won't be easy. Trump's goons will probably hide the traditional Part B option and make it difficult to find and sign up for traditional Medicare Part B.
This shit sandwich is part of Project 2025 and is included in a Republican "Medicare Reform Act" bill, which has seemingly gone nowhere in Congress, so I guess now the plan is just to make the change WITHOUT Congress - WITHOUT the representatives of We the People having any say in the matter.
The Medicare Reform Act SHUNTS Medicare applicants (Part B) into the cheapest Medicare Advantage program possible (DIFFICULT to find and enroll in traditional Medicare instead), and forces them to stay on MA for THREE YEARS. And it's almost impossible after that to get on normal Medicare: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3467/text
https://www.commondreams.org/news/medicare-advantage-default-enrollment
Chris Klomp, the Trump administration’s director of Medicare and deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), told STAT last month that enrolling seniors in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by default “is something that we’re thinking through.” MA plans are funded by the federal government and run by private insurance companies such as UnitedHealthcare and Humana, both of which have been accused of improperly denying necessary care to patients and overcharging taxpayers.
The default enrollment scheme was floated in the far-right Project 2025 agenda that President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to disavow. Currently, older Americans who have received Social Security benefits for at least four months before they turn 65 are automatically enrolled in traditional Medicare, and they can choose to enroll in an MA plan as an alternative.
“Another bad idea straight from Project 2025,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said in response to Klomp’s comments on the proposed default enrollment change. “Medicare Advantage is private, for-profit insurance that overcharges American taxpayers by billions every year and regularly denies seniors the care they need.”
“Making Medicare Advantage the default option hurts patients and taxpayers,” Pocan added, “but it will make insurance execs a lot of money.”
“With Mehmet Oz running the agency, they can move incredibly quickly to make that happen, and they are.”
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