Two articles in the August 2026 edition of the PSARA newsletter The Retiree Advocate, remind Americans that Traditional Medicare has a FOR SALE sign at its front door. The first article on page one, "WSLC [Washington State Labor Council] Opposes Default Enrollment in Medicare Advantage", outlines the terms of sale, what many might call a give-away: "...All must go! ...Bargain basement prices!"

“Project 2025 calls for all Medicare-eligible beneficiaries who do not choose a plan to be automatically enrolled in private Medicare Advantage insurance plans, rather than in Traditional Medicare. The Trump-appointed Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mehmet Oz, and Chris Klomp, the Director of Medicare, have also stated their support for default enrollment into private Medicare Advantage plan.”

Over the past several years, I have been warning Medicare eligible individuals to avoid Medicare (Dis)Advantage plans like the plague they are. [See Related Website Links below] These private plans extract (steal - if you prefer) billions of dollars from the Medicare coffers, dollars that might otherwise be spent on patient care and services, while simultaneously restricting or denying care to the Medicare patient who has paid - often for decades - to be in the program. Once caught up in these snare-like plans, it is extremely difficult to extricate oneself ...think of a fox chewing off its leg to escape a hunter's trap.  

Closer to home, the second article, found on page three in the PSARA newsletter, has reproduced a speech Sen. Patty Murray gave before the Senate in July 2026, ["Sen. Murray's Speech to Senate Urging End to Trump Administration’s WISeR Program that is Delaying and Denying Seniors’ Health Care"]. Her speech had to do with the sophomorically-called WISeR Program about which I wrote a short time ago, "Your Traditional Medicare And Private Contractors in 2026." Sen. Murray tells us:

“The ‘WISeR’ Model uses AI to deny vulnerable seniors the care they need and that their doctors recommend. Not only that, but the for-profit contractors that conduct this prior authorization are paid a percentage of the cost of care that they deny. They are literally incentivized to rip health care away from seniors because that is better for their bottom line. When your business model relies on denials, denials are what seniors are going to get—and that is perverse.”

In my article (see link above) I wrote:

"This risibly named WISeR model (Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction) is billed as a pilot project that would take place in six states, Washington being one of them. As of the first of January [2026], those of us here in Washington are now are being overseen by a company that knows how to exctract money from Medicare, that is, your money. Washingtonians' Traditional Medicare will by and large be taken over by Virtix Health located somewhere in Pheonix, Arizona."

In the next several months, we will again find ourselves in the Medicare (Dis)Advantage open season during which Medicare eligibles can sign up for, or switch, among these privatized Medicare plans. Every Medicare recipient in Washington is already trapped in the WISeR pilot program for the next six years. This means that for a certain number of conditions, prior authorization for treatment is mandatory. Legislation to forceably move Medicare recipients to join a Medicare (Dis)Advantage plan is not likely to occur until after the November elections. In the meantime, anyone currently in Medicare, or anyone who cares about those who are in or about to be in Medicare, ought to be writing to their Senators and Representatives in Congress. Tell them to stop the privatization of Medicare whether that be by Medicare (Dis)Advantage, the WISeR Model, Direct Contracting Entities/Access, and Community Health (ACO-Reach). Whatever your place of residence, follow the links below to contact your congressional representatives. 

U.S. House of Representatives https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

U.S. Senate https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm