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Medicare Advantage is a money grab by big insurers - Minnesota Reformer

minnesotareformer.com · 784 words · saved by 1 readers

The Sunday, Oct. 15 issue of the Minneapolis Star Tribune arrived on my door step wrapped in a four-page advertisement for something called Allina Health-Aetna. Allina is a 12-hospital multi-clinic chain; Aetna, which was bought out by the drug chain CVS for $69 billion five years ago, is a health insurance company. The purpose of the ad was to urge the 20% of Minnesotans who are eligible for Medicare — the nation’s health insurance program for the elderly and the disabled — to enroll in Allina-Aetna’s “Medicare Advantage” plan. “Medicare Advantage” is the misleading name given to the privatized portion of Medicare — the portion in which tax dollars are funneled through insurance companies so they can take 15% off the top to pay for administrative costs and profit before sending the other 85% to doctors and hospitals with strings attached. The traditional Medicare program — the unprivatized portion – does not funnel money through insurance companies; it pays doctors and hospitals direc

6:00 Commentary The Sunday, Oct. 15 issue of the Minneapolis Star Tribune arrived on my door step wrapped in a four-page advertisement for something called Allina Health-Aetna. Allina is a 12-hospital multi-clinic chain; Aetna, which was bought out by the drug chain CVS for $69 billion five years ago, is a health insurance company. The purpose of the ad was to urge the 20% of Minnesotans who are eligible for Medicare — the nation’s health insurance program for the elderly and the disabled — to enroll in Allina-Aetna’s “Medicare Advantage” plan. “Medicare Advantage” is the misleading name given

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