A major investigation by The New York Times this weekend has found many of the nation’s largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by exploiting the government’s Medicare Advantage program. Eight of the 10 largest Medicare Advantage providers have overbilled the government. Six of the 10 have been accused of fraud by the government or company whistleblowers.
This comes as the number of people enrolled in the privatized system continue to grow. Projections show that by next year more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries will be enrolled in a private plan.
Under the system, health insurers get more government funding for sicker patients, which has given the companies an incentive to make patients appear more ill than they actual are. UnitedHealth, Humana, Kaiser and other health insurance companies have been sued for fraud for overdiagnosing patients to bump up profits. The cost to taxpayers is
— source democracynow.org | Oct 12, 2022