Our Patients Over Profits campaign is designed to reduce the influence that the corporate health care industry has on our political process in the United States. The industry uses a portion of its massive profits to relentlessly lobby politicians for policies that will further pad their bottom line, all while harming patients.

Recently this was on full display as private insurers descended on Congress to lobby for even more money in reimbursements via Medicare Advantage plans.

Medicare Advantage (MA) — or as it should be called, Medicare (Dis)Advantage — is a type of plan offered within Medicare that is administered by private health insurers. MA plans:

• Typically cover 25% fewer services;
• Require prior authorization;
• Often result in more delays and denials;
• Incentivize less care than traditional Medicare;
• Exacerbate racial health inequities by preying on already marginalized communities through their marketing, and then providing worse coverage.

Studies have shown that as many as 10,000 unnecessary deaths per year can be traced back to MA plans and their unnecessary red tape that delays and denies care.

Meanwhile, private insurers have been making record profits by overcharging the U.S. government by billions of dollars in reimbursements for these plans.

This year, the industry fought hard to increase those reimbursements even more. They spent the last few weeks with an army of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. trying to use their cozy relationship with elected officials to fleece our government even further for their own gain.

But our health care justice organization allies like Be A Hero, PNHP, Social Security Works, and more led the campaign to fight back, and last week the 2025 reimbursement rate was announced: the industry was not successful in getting the major increases they were asking for.

This shows when organized people take the industry head-on, we can win!

To learn more and help educate others on the dangers of Medicare (Dis)Advantage, read and share this op-ed by Medicare for All champion Rep. Pramila Jayapal today →

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While this victory will prevent the industry from profiting even more from these poor-quality health care plans for now, nurses and allies know we can do even better by passing a single-payer system that guarantees health care for ALL.

Together, let’s keep up the fight to reduce the for-profit health care industry’s harmful influence on our political process through our Patients Over Profits campaign and ultimately pass Medicare for All.

In solidarity,

Nurses' Campaign to Win Medicare for All