Medicare, Insurance Cos, Liars, Cheats, and Thieves

Congress wrote the Drug bill for Medicare with insurance companies in mind, don't even think seniors had much to do with it. Even given that, it's not enough for insurance companies, the NYT examined 91 audits of Medicare involved private insurance companies and found the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores. Surprisingly enough since March Medicare has imposed fines of $770,000 on 11 companies for infractions from failing to disclose changes in benefits and coverage to marketing violations.

This is not small time stuff, people's health is at stake and the insurance companies despite sweetheart deals are using every nasty trick in the book to increase their edge. When the government privatised this deal they didn't bother to note to interested parties that they putting Medicare recipients into the hands of companies whose sole purpose is to generate profits, not serve those needing medication. Any claim cuts into the profit margin and proper coverage decreased that margin.

The Times article has a list of some of the infractions, suffice to say one private insurer in Florida was cancelled as posing "imminent and serious threat” to its 11,000 members. You bet the privatization of government is a swell idea.