First Murray. Now Larsen. Half Trillion Dollar Theft From Medicare: Not An Issue.

About a month ago,  I wrote an article about a response I got from our Senator, Patty Murray, in which she totally ignored the crux of my communication with her regarding the Medicare Advantage (MA) grand theft of over a half trillion dollars from the Medicare Trust Fund. Rick Larsen replied to me with a similarly clueless missive when I wrote to him to point out the same issue, grand theft from the American elderly. 

Here is the text [italicized] of Larsen's response with my comments in red text:

"Thank you for contacting me about Medicare Advantage. It is critical to my work to hear from you and I welcome the opportunity to write to you.*

"I support Medicare and ensuring people can receive the quality, affordable health care to which they are entitled. In Washington state, almost 1.5 million people are enrolled in Medicare, and 45% of those beneficiaries have a Medicare Advantage plan. Selecting a health care plan is a personal decision based on an individual’s medical and financial situation, and it is essential that Congress improve all Medicare options available to enrollees. 

Sorry Rep Larsen, we are not talking about personal decisions here regarding health care. We are talking about a SYSTEM that promotes Medicare Advantage, that pushes it in the faces of seniors on Medicare and then gives billions upon billions of dollars to the private sector to the detriment of all Medicare insured. Personal health decisions, that you tout as a hallmark of medical and financial situations, are taken from the patients and their doctors and put in the hands of insurance lackeys and financial managers. The only possible improvement is the repeal of legislation that created MA and the placement of all MA insureds back into Traditional Medicare.

"That is why I joined colleagues in a letter urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to increase transparency in Medicare Advantage plans and require a deadline for those plans to respond to requests for urgently needed care. I also support the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act, legislation to streamline Medicare Advantage’s prior authorization process.

Again, it ain't about streamlining anything, as you suggest with the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act. It is about getting rid of Medicare Advantage in its entirety so that the program can no longer steal from the Medicare Trust Fund. If Traditional Medicare were simply expanded (using the dollars now stolen by Medicare Advantage), there would be no prior authorization to deal with, no streamlining necessary. The continuing lie perpetrated by Medicare Advantage proponents is that these insurers add “value” and stop waste. The truth is exactly the opposite. The watchdogs, risibly called “case managers” within some MA insurance companies, work to deny care, delay care, cut payments to providers and generally muck about with the system that serves some of the most vulnerable in our society.  

"Congress must also be vigilant against waste, fraud and abuse, while preventing reductions to essential health benefits or increasing beneficiaries' share of costs. That is why I joined my colleagues in opposing pending Medicare reimbursement cuts, which will reduce access to health care. I also support legislation to lower Medicare eligibility to age 60 and expand coverage to include eye exams and glasses, hearing aids and dental care. 

Yes. Just by eliminating MA we could pay for the eye exams, glasses, hearing aids, and dental care. And why lower eligibility to just age 60? Establish Medicare for All and rid our country of the insurance vultures who treat people's health care as if it were carrion.  Presently, the taxpayers' 1.45% Medicare portion of the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) hospital insurance tax is applied to the first $200K annual earnings for single filers and $250K for joint filers. After that, the percentage drops to 0.9%. This needs to change so that the 1.45% is applied to ALL earnings--no cap. The Medicare Trust Fund will recover our current losses and become sustainable, and the regressive nature of the FICA tax will be eliminated.

"In addition, my offices in Everett and Bellingham are always available to assist you, should you experience any difficulties with your personal Medicare benefits. 

“Thank you again for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you, and I am listening. Please continue to reach out.”

That being said, I will give Larsen credit for having paid attention to my earlier missive to him in April, 2022 regarding another, more insidious form of grand theft from Medicare, that is, Direct Contracting Entities (DCE), also known now as ACO Reach. In his response [see the full letter at FILES below] to me he wrote:  

"I oppose Medicare privatization and am concerned DCEs could weaken health coverage for many traditional Medicare patients.  

"DCEs are part of a model run by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). CMMI runs these models to test efficiencies in the Medicare system. However, I have heard from dozens of constituents with concerns that the DCE model might impact their quality of care and choice in medical coverage.  

“In response, I wrote directly to Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees CMMI, to answer the concerns I am hearing from Northwest Washington. Please know I will keep monitoring this situation and working to strengthen Medicare.”

 

Interestingly though, he does not seem to equate MA with privatization such as with the DCEs. I think Larsen, like many in Congress, just does not understand these programs even after years or decades in elective office.

*Obligatory politeness before a response that ignores the essence of my message to him. But as with Sen Murray's website, there is no copy of one's message sent through the website to the member of congress that comes back to the sender.  In essence, there is no proof that you even sent the message. This is common practice by organizations and individuals who do not want to be tracked in their answers using email. There is little real dialogue. It is essentially one way. You may get an email response, in which case you will now have an email address for your representative that you can use later for subsequent communications.