U.S. Tax Dollars Funding $64 Billion Medicare Advantage Scam: Hartmann

George W. Bush and his GOP allies created Medicare Advantage in 2003 as part of their effort to privatize Social Security and Medicare, but Medicare Advantage is not real Medicare, as it involves private health insurance provided by corporations that are fully reimbursed by the Medicare trust fund whether customers use the insurance or not, Thom Hartmann wrote in his newsletter.

The former CEO of UnitedHealth, the nation's largest Medicare Advantage provider, walked away with more than $1 billion in compensation, while his successor earned over half a billion dollars in pay and stock.

This year, as Matthew Cunningham-Cook pointed out in Wendell Potter’s “Health Care Un-covered” Substack newsletter, Hartmann noted that an additional $64 billion is being allocated to reimburse these private insurance companies for the "freebies" they advertise on TV, online, and in print.

Yet, these companies won't disclose how much of that $64 billion is actually spent or how much they pocket.

The former CEO of UnitedHealth, the nation's largest Medicare Advantage provider, walked away with more than $1 billion in compensation, while his successor earned over half a billion dollars in pay and stock.

Cunningham-Cook highlighted studies showing that only 11% of Advantage policyholders signed up for plans offering dental care actually used the benefit, and only 33.3% of over-the-counter (OTC) freebies were used, leaving $5 billion in the insurance companies' coffers.

At least 25% of policyholders failed to use any of the freebies offered upon signing up.

Donald Trump expanded Medicare Advantage during his presidency, referring to real Medicare as “socialism.” Both Trump and Project 2025 have promised to end real Medicare "immediately" if Trump or another Republican becomes president.

According to Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), giant insurance companies took $140 billion more from taxpayers last year than it would have cost to keep people on real Medicare.