| November 20, 2022 As I’m sure you are aware, we are in the midst of Medicare’s open enrollment period. Commercial health insurers, as usual, have embarked on a massive marketing campaign designed to entice seniors into their Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Using a toolkit put together by PNHP staff, our members have pushed back against the misleading messaging of MA insurers and highlighted the dangers of Medicare privatization with a series of op-eds and letters to the editor in newspapers across the country. If you have not already submitted an opinion piece, then I’m asking for your help in continuing this campaign. PNHP has created two new pages on our ProtectMedicare.net website. One page highlights recent reports by the New York Times and the Senate Finance Committee on allegations of fraud and misleading marketing against MA insurers, and provides some helpful examples of recent opinion pieces by PNHP members and allies. The other page contains an exceptional presentation by our own Dr. Ed Weisbart on MA and its many problems. Please use these pages, as well as the other tools listed below, to write your own op-ed or letter to the editor concerning MA in your local newspaper. We must do everything we can to warn the public about the greed of commercial health insurers, the danger of allowing them to further infiltrate Medicare, and the urgent need for single-payer Medicare for All. Medicare Advantage communications toolkit: One-page handout: “The Problem with Medicare Advantage” PNHP statement: “CMS Should Terminate the Medicare Advantage Program” PowerPoint slides: Medicare Advantage: What Single Payer Advocates Need to Know, developed by Dr. Ed Weisbart Podcast: “More like Medicare Disadvantage, AMIRITE?” featuring Dr. Susan Rogers NYT article: “The Cash Monster Was Insatiable: How Insurers Exploited Medicare Advantage for Billions” U.S. Senate Report: “Deceptive Marketing Practices in Medicare Advantage” Medicare’s open enrollment period only lasts through Dec. 7, so now is the time to write your op-ed or letter to the editor. Consider using the following talking points when writing about this complicated issue: Medicare Advantage is only able to offer low premiums and out-of-pocket caps by delaying or denying care on the back end, and by discouraging the sickest patients from enrolling. Medicare Advantage allows seniors to choose their health plan, but it restricts the much more crucial choice of doctor and hospital by using narrow provider networks. So long as we allow profit-seekers to control our health, they will deny us care, stick us with exorbitant costs, and keep the lion’s share for themselves. The only true solution to our country’s health care problem is Medicare for All, but if we allow corporations to take over Medicare, we will never see it achieved. If you have any questions or would like advice on your op-eds and letters, please reach out to our Communications Specialist, Gaurav Kalwani, at gaurav@pnhp.org. If writing isn’t your preferred method of engagement, consider using this toolkit as a basis for a presentation to colleagues, conversation with community members, or relationship-building exercise with local organizations. Any way we can get the message out will help move our cause forward. At this crucial juncture, we must make our voices heard and stop the capture of Medicare by corporate profiteers. We can only do this if we all speak up, and speak as one. Sincerely,  Susan Rogers, M.D. President |
Raising the alarm on Medicare Advantage
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