In his weekly newsletter, former U.S. Senator David Durenberger, now head of the National Institute of Health Policy writes:
“Private insurance giants United Health Group and Humana have priced 1.6 million seniors out of their current prescription drug plans. In some of the largest states in the country these top two Medicare sellers have submitted bids for 2008 which will require beneficiaries to go find other plans. …In traditional Medicare you wouldn't have this problem. It is not taking us long to find that private insurance competition is not necessarily the best nor the cheapest way for Medicare beneficiaries to access prescription drugs.Posted by schwitz at November 5, 2007 09:05 AM | TrackBackOctober's AARP Bulletin alerts me "Don't Fall for the Hard Sell." AARP is alerting its members to the downsides of private Medicare rather than Traditional Medicare (or "socialized medicine" as their GOP friends call it.) AARP's problem is with the hundreds of thousands of insurance agents who peddle these new plans and their prescription drug cousins to elderly folks used to dealing with Medicare as they and their parents knew it. These agents get paid a lot more for selling (the private “Medicare Advantage”) plans than drug or medigap plans, something like $250 to $500 per sale. …Starting in January, AARP will be selling its United Health/AARP MA plan. We'll find out then what kind of "trustworthy" agents we will be dealing with.”