Little known to many is the fact that numerous private insurance companies use the Medicare label in their plan titles and in their advertising efforts. Two progressive members of the House of Representatives, Mark Pocan and Ro Khanna, recently unveiled new legislation that would ban private insurers from doing that and would change the name of Medicare Advantage to “Alternative Private Health Plan.”
The purpose of the legislation, they say, would be to make it abundantly clear that the coverage is being offered by for-profit companies. The legislators feel that the name Medicare Advantage is simply convenient for insurers to use to deny coverage and to fool senior citizens into signing up for their programs thinking that it has something to do with Medicare.
To help ensure that companies abide by the rules if the legislation were to pass, there are provisions in the bill that would find companies up to $100,000 for each incidence of using the term Medicare Advantage in the title of a private plan.
Around 28 million people are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans which are supposed to follow the rules and standards set by Medicare but are managed by private firms.
Private insurance companies have come under fire recently after it was uncovered that many attempt to extort Medicare by overbilling for various procedures while not providing a sufficient level of care.
