Medicare corruption
The private drama of families seeking treatment is a daily experiece for a plaintiff's trial lawyer such as myself. Delays in paying legitimate claims can destroy a family. Insurance companies, motivated by profit, can be ruthless. Even delays of a few days can work havoc on an injured person's ability to get timely treatment or be able to keep a job. Compound this ruthless motivation for profit many times if President Bush gets his way by converting medicare to a for-profit cartel with little or no checks and balances. The following is part of a recent New York Times article that clearly demonstrates the travesty of Bush's for-profit gift for his chronies. Do not confuse this effort with free enterprise because there are no natural checks and balances of an open market.
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: October 7, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 — Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.
Paul Vernon/Associated Press
Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, says the Medicare drug benefit is saving people money.
The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores.
Medicare officials have required insurance companies of all sizes to fix the violations by adopting “corrective action plans.” Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits.
The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint.
The sad end to this story is that there will be no real solution until the sheppards and wolves are not the same
http://www.bailey-law.com/lawyer-attorney-1215744.html
