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Vol. 73/No. 42      November 2, 2009

 
Letters
 
Medicare Advantage I
In the September 28 issue of the Militant, an article by Seth Galinsky states that a proposal by President Obama to eliminate Medicare Advantage would be “an opening wedge for more attacks on Medicare and Medicaid.” In fact, the enactment of Medicare Advantage in 2003 was an attack on Medicare. For the first time private insurance companies gained an open door to the lucrative prize of Medicare funds.

KMD
Oakland, California

Medicare Advantage II
While I am in agreement with the Militant headline “‘Health Reform’ Plan Aimed Against Workers,” and am in general agreement with Seth Galinsky’s contribution to that article, I don’t think that elimination of Medicare Advantage necessarily drives a wedge into Medicare. One of the advantages of Medicare is that it is a system that avoids private insurance companies with all the redundant administrative waste and profit taking that they entail.

As I understand it, Medicare Advantage is itself a wedge driven into Medicare. It opened up Medicare to private insurance schemes, such as HMOs, PPOs, and the like so that they could make profits off the system.

David Wilder
Cleveland, Ohio
 
 
Related articles:
Medicare Advantage and ‘health reform’  
 
 
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