Connect with us

'CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?'

Major U.S. insurance companies stole billions from taxpayers in overbilling scam

Published

on

Numerous major U.S. health insurance companies have made as much as $25 billion in profits by fraudulently billing the U.S. government for nonexistent healthcare charges, according to a New York Times report.

By 2023, nearly half of the estimated 64 million people on Medicare — the government’s national health insurance program for people over 65 and young people with disabilities — will have a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan. The MA plans, managed by private insurance companies, receive payments from the U.S. government for managing people’s care.

Whistleblowers, federal officials, and an inspector general accused some of the biggest insurers of fraudulently overbilling the government by falsely reporting patient ailments. The accused companies include UnitedHealth, Humana, CVS Health, Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and others. Most of the programs’ large insurers have also been accused of fraud in court.

Two decades ago, congressional Republicans created MA “to encourage health insurers to find innovative ways to provide better care at lower cost,” the Times wrote. However, the MA program now costs more money per patient than those enrolled in Medicare.

Journalist Natalie Shure explained how the scam works.

“Privatized Medicare plans cherry-pick healthier enrollees, fudge medical records to make them look as sick as possible, coax doctors into tacking on extra sham diagnoses to bill for, and pay themselves a profit on top of it,” she wrote, noting that the insurance companies often refuse to provide additional treatment to these allegedly sick patients. “Medicare Advantage shouldn’t exist.”

As the Times reported, “The government now spends nearly as much on Medicare Advantage’s 29 million beneficiaries as on the Army and Navy combined.” The private insurers have pocketed anywhere from $12 billion to $25 billion through fraudulent claims in 2020, the Times reported.

Even though officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have been given congressional permission to “reduce the insurers’ rates in response to evidence of systematic overbilling,” the Times added, “CMS has never chosen to do so.”

Nearly 80 percent of U.S. House members recently signed onto a letter “to protect the [MA] program from policies that would undermine” its stability, Common Dreams reported. Many of these politicians receive donations from insurance companies.

In April, the Biden administration announced that, next year, MA insurers will receive one of the largest payment increases in the program’s history, the publication added.

Progressive politicians, activists, and healthcare advocates have argued that MA is merely part of an effort to privatize Medicare entirely, a move that would potentially allow private insurance companies to fleece U.S. taxpayers for additional billions.

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

'CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?'

‘Pure Insanity’: Leaked Emails Reveal DOJ Officials’ Horrified Reactions to Trump Allies’ Voter Fraud Claims

Published

on

Leaked emails obtained by CNN show that former top officials at the Department of Justice reacted with horror after being asked to investigate voter fraud conspiracy theories by former president Donald Trump and his allies.

The emails show that former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue both wanted no part of a White House pressure campaign to use the department to investigate wild voter fraud conspiracy theories, including entirely baseless claims about Italy using satellites to change Trump supporters’ votes.

In fact, the emails show that then-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadowssent Rosen a YouTube video outlining Italy’s purported satellite plot. Rosen, in turn, forwarded it to Donoghue, who simply called it “pure insanity.”

Rosen also slapped away a Meadows request for the Justice Department to review purported signature match anomalies in Georgia.

“Can you believe this?” Rosen wrote to Donoghue about Meadows’ request. “I am not going to respond to the message below.”

The emails also show that Rosen pointedly refused to meet with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who relentlessly pushed false claims about Dominion Voting Systems rigging the election for President Joe Biden.

“I flatly refused, said I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his ‘witnesses,’ and re-affirmed yet again that I will not talk to Giuliani about any of this,” Rosen wrote in one email after being asked to meet with Giuliani.

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.