Americans United for Change, Medicare Advocates Call on Sen. Voinovich to Stop the Privatization of Medicare

By Christina Heckart - Jul 17th, 2007
Source:ProgressOHIO

Americans United for Change, Medicare Advocates Call on Sen. Voinovich to Stop the Privatization of Medicare

Bush “Medicare Advantage” program nothing more than a handout to the big insurance companies at the expense of the taxpayer and of the long-term care of seniors and disabled Americans who need it most

(COLUMBUS) – As a major battle looms in Congress over the future of the so-called “Medicare Advantage” program – a program which provides huge subsidies to big private insurance companies that provide Medicare insurance – Americans United for Change and the ‘Stop Medicare Privatization’ campaign call on U.S. Senator George Voinovich to take immediate action and stop the privatization of Medicare.

This morning, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees released a report commissioned by USAction that shows in 2007 alone, private Medicare plans are being overpaid $311 million in the state of Ohio. Congress’ non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Congressional Budget Office have found that private insurance companies are being paid billions more than it would cost to treat the same beneficiaries under the regular Medicare program.

Click here to read the full USAction report.

In 2003, Senator Voinovich voted in favor of the Medicare Modernization Act, which was the first major step towards privatizing Medicare by establishing billions of dollars in government subsidies or ‘corporate welfare’ to big insurances companies that were allowed to provide Medicare insurance to recipients under Bush’s so-called “Medicare Advantage” program.

Despite its innocuous title, the Bush administration’s “Medicare Advantage” program actually costs the Medicare program and ultimately the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars at the same time it endangers the soundness of the Medicare program that seniors and the disabled depend upon for health care. Like Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, “Medicare Advantage” is a scheme to privatize Medicare and allow traditional Medicare to whither on the vine.

“Just two years after the American people resoundingly rejected the Bush Administration’s misguided scheme to privatize Social Security, President Bush is trying to get away with doing the same to Medicare,” said Brian Rothenberg of ProgressOhio.org, an Ohio partner of Americans United for Change. “And just like Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme would have irreparably harmed Social Security, Medicare Advantage disadvantages Medicare, disadvantages taxpayers and is undermining one of the most successful government programs in history. Today, we are mounting a campaign to stop the privatization of Medicare – just as we stopped the privatization of Social Security. We call on Senator Voinovich to take meaningful steps to bring an end to a corrupt era of ‘corporate welfare’ by eliminating subsidies for “Medicare Advantage” plans before overpayments destroy America’s greatest health insurance success story.”

Like its successful campaign in 2005 to defeat the President’s Social Security plan, Americans United for Change is again leading an aggressive national effort in 23 states to apply pressure on Members of Congress to pull the plug on Bush’s under-the-radar plot to dismantle Medicare. Americans United for Change is one of many groups participating in the ‘Stop Medicare Privatization’ campaign: the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Alliance for Retired Americans; Medicare Rights Center; Campaign for America’s Future and USAction.

Click here to read more about the ‘Stop Medicare Privatization’ campaign.