It's Medicare 'DISadvantage'

To the Editor:

Medicare Advantage, the private insurance plan alternative to traditional Medicare, reduces coverage costs by including Medicare Part A, Part B and typically Part D benefits for no additional premium, as well as offering various vision, hearing and dental benefits. If this sounds too good to be true, it is!

Medicare Advantage costs are paid for by rationing service but also by plundering Traditional Medicare by gaming the system with predatory and deceitful, but still technically legal, overcharges. A groundbreaking new report by Physicians for a National Healthcare Program (pnhp.org) exposes the four major ways that private insurers systematically exploit the system and overcharge Medicare between $88 and $140 BILLION annually. This enormous overcharge potentially exceeds the cost of Medicare Part B premiums.

Medicare Advantage endangers the health of its members and also endangers the financial health of traditional Medicare. Sadly, seniors are forced by their own economic distress to enroll in Medicare Advantage in a desperate attempt to reduce out of pocket costs.

This is a dilemma without resolution under the current circumstances and can only be rectified by universal healthcare. This is precisely what the NY Health Act is meant to accomplish.

Jeff Sklar