Earlier this month, we asked if you had any questions about the reintroduction of Medicare for All — or anything at all! — that we could answer. So many folks reached out, so we thought we would send the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions.
Here are your questions, and our answers:
Medicare is being privatized, what can we do to fight back?
There are two main pillars behind the privatization of Medicare — the long-established but expanding program called Medicare Advantage and a new pilot program called ACO REACH.
Medicare Advantage, also known as Medicare Part C, is a type of plan offered within Medicare that is administered by private health insurers. This program has been in place since 1999 but is rapidly expanding. Today, 48% of Medicare beneficiaries are on Medicare Advantage plans.1 If you think this would lead to decreased quality care and prioritizing profits over patients, you’d be right. Medicare Advantage plans typically cover 25% fewer services, require prior authorization, often result in more delays and denials, and incentivize less care than traditional Medicare.2 Unsurprisingly, the insurance industry rakes in huge profits from its Medicare Advantage programs.
During the end of the Trump administration, a new pilot program was launched that today is known as ACO REACH. The program invites private health care corporations to manage traditional Medicare plans without the knowledge or consent of Medicare beneficiaries.3 1.8 million people have already been auto-enrolled in this pilot program, with the potential to grow to tens of millions of people.
What do these two programs have in common? They allow private health care corporations to silently profit off what should be a high quality, public program. So what can we do to fight back?
While we continue to fight for Medicare for All, fighting to protect Medicare from privatization and budget cuts is critical. You can use this new tool from our friends at Social Security Works to write a letter to your members of Congress demanding they oppose the proliferation of Medicare Advantage, and you can RSVP here to join our friends at Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) this Thursday, January 26, at 5:00pm PT/8:00pm ET, for a webinar on the latest updates regarding ACO REACH and how you can fight back.
What are the plans to advance Medicare for All in Congress this year? How can I help?
Because it’s the start of a new session of Congress, Medicare for All legislation will need to be reintroduced in both the Senate and the House, and members have to take the step to sign on (or back on) as original cosponsors — it doesn’t happen automatically even for those who signed on in the previous session.
Our plan is to make sure that every single previous cosponsor who is still in Congress signs back on and ensure new members of Congress who ran on Medicare for All sign on as original cosponsors of the new bill as well.
How would Medicare for All work? What would be included?
Some of you had questions about the basics of Medicare for All. For more information and resources, check out our website at: www.medicare4all.org! But here’s a short explainer:
Medicare for All is a single-payer, national health care system that would guarantee care for all regardless of one's ability to pay. And it wouldn’t be the Medicare we have today covering everyone — it would be an expanded, improved version of Medicare that is public, truly comprehensive, and free at the point of service.
Medicare for All would:
Do you want us to join this campaign if we are not nurses?
YES! For-profit insurance companies are already spending millions of lobbying dollars to kill Medicare for All legislation. If we’re going to pass Medicare for All and provide guaranteed health care for everyone, we need to build a massive grassroots organizing campaign that can fight back — and win.
In solidarity,
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All
1 - KFF
2 - New York Times
3 - PNHP
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