WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-CA) released the following statement on the release of two studies by America`s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) promoting overpayments to private insurers through Medicare Advantage:
Rep. Stark: "AHIP’s reports attempt to portray taxpayer overpayments to MA plans as indispensable for low-income, minority Medicare beneficiaries, when the opposite is true. These overpayments to private insurers increase premiums for all Medicare beneficiaries to pad the pockets of insurance companies.
“In contrast, HR 3200 offers assistance and protection for all Medicare beneficiaries - regardless of income or race - by eliminating cost sharing for preventive services, closing the Part D donut hole, increasing quality through incentivizing care coordination in medical homes and Accountable Care Organizations, and reducing preventable hospital readmissions. The House bill would also ensure that low-income Medicare beneficiaries have access to comprehensive coverage by improving access to the low-income subsidy programs and expanding Medicaid eligibility. This approach is more efficient and responsible than forcing all Medicare beneficiaries to subsidize the health care costs of the less than 25 percent of beneficiaries who are enrolled in MA plans, as AHIP would suggest doing.
“Finally, any report commissioned by Jay Gellert - the CEO of HealthNet and Chair of AHIP - should be taken with a healthy grain of salt, especially one claiming that beneficiaries are being helped. Under his leadership, HealthNet has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for illegally rescinding people’s health coverage when they get sick," concluded Rep. Stark.
