Dear Editor,

All of us pay into the Medicare fund at the national level. Even if you are not eligible for Medicare because you are too young or you aren’t disabled, you pay into the fund. The Medicare Plan is celebrating its 58th birthday July 30th and has been a wonderful health care plan for older Americans and disabled Americans. Even if you are not eligible you can look forward to this coverage that will, someday, save you a boatload of money compared to what you pay now or what your employer pays now for your health insurance. So Medicare is a good thing and could be even better, but it is being exploited by private health insurance companies.

The private commercial insurance companies tell the Federal Government’s Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) office that the Medicare enrollee is also enrolled in their private Medicare Advantage Health insurance plan. So, CMS gives money from the Medicare fund that we the taxpayers provide to the private insurance company. CMS every year figures out how much it will cost to pay for care for the average enrollee in Medicare. But, if the person has several medical diagnoses the private commercial insurance company can enter codes to claim that their customer needs more care therefore the cost will be higher to take care of this individual so the Federal government gives that private commercial insurance company more money than the average estimated cost.

That all seems reasonable...right? However, here’s where the “rip off” comes in. The private health insurance company exaggerates the likely cost to care for each customer by entering codes for things the patient does NOT need care for. The private commercial insurance companies also trick the consumer into thinking they will have a better deal if they enroll in an advantage plan by offering vision, hearing, and/or dental benefits that regular Medicare coverage doesn’t include. Actually, it would be less expensive to enroll in separate plans for those benefits and stick with regular Medicare coverage. The private commercial health insurance company ends up taking lots of money from the Medicare Fund that they do not need to care for their customers. That translates into a huge profit for the commercial insurance company. Guess who helped the private commercial health insurance company make that huge profit… You and I, the taxpayers.

Here is how we can fix this problem:

• Improve Medicare coverage by including hearing, vision, and dental benefits

• Increase Medicare reimbursement to health care providers

• Eliminate Medicare Advantage plans through private commercial insurance plans

How can we pay for these improvements? Simple. By using our Medicare Federal funds to pay for these Medicare improvements instead of lining the pockets of Commercial health insurance companies who are paying their CEOS huge compensation packages; and paying their stockholders using our taxpayer funds.

Tell the Biden Administration you want Medicare improved not privatized.

Senator Jeanne Nicholson

Black Hawk