Medicare is being privatized for profit. Stop Medicare REACH now

The opinions expressed in this post are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions held by Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western MA.

To the Editor:

I am writing with my deep concern about the Medicare REACH program, which is happening now without the knowledge or consent of seniors being enrolled. This program has third-party private middlemen “managing” the medical care of seniors in traditional Medicare. This threatens the promise of Medicare as a public, nonprofit social insurance program. It’s another attempt to privatize Medicare for the wrong reasons– for profit, not for peoples’ care.

Under the REACH program, private for-profit management companies will be assigned to pay for medical care for millions of seniors. These companies strive to make profits, not provide care, and aren’t required to have ANY healthcare expertise. They can interfere with medical decisions, and restrict and deny care, while making money for investors.

It’s worrisome that Wall Street and private equity companies are investing in REACH, hoping to make big profits by maximizing their take from Medicare, while minimizing actual care. This is a betrayal of Medicare’s promise to seniors who choose traditional Medicare, where insurance companies currently aren’t allowed to interfere in the doctor-patient relationship.

The dangers of Medicare REACH have been highlighted by healthcare professionals and many others. Medicare’s future depends on stopping this program because it interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and enables middlemen to profit.

It is unfair for seniors to be assigned to these for-profit companies without their knowledge or consent. If they don’t like their plan and want to change, they will be required to get a new primary care provider!

Please call your Congressional representatives at 202-224-3121 and demand that they end Medicare REACH now. Also, alert your family and friends about this ongoing threat to Medicare. All this would be solved if America had a single-payer Medicare-for-All universal healthcare system like all the other modern nations in the world. But alas…

Please act today to preserve traditional Medicare. Now it’s time to do what’s right for millions of seniors who depend on Medicare for their healthcare. Please contact your Representatives and President Biden.