The Deadly New GOP Plan To Rapidly Privatize Medicare

Medicare Advantage is not Medicare: it’s private health insurance for seniors that’s largely paid for with our tax dollars. They make their money by routinely denying claims…

By Thom Hartmann, The Hartmann Report

Want to invest in a scam that lets you make billions with virtually no risk? If you’re morbidly rich, all you have to do is to open or buy an insurance company that’s offering Medicare Advantage plans.

And now, Republicans are saying that if they retake the White House they will change the Medicare rules so that people newly turning 65 will enroll by default into Medicare Advantage rather than real, traditional Medicare, further enhancing the profits of these massive, billion-dollar insurance giants while rapidly killing off real, traditional Medicare.

This is the culmination of a long-term plan.

George W. Bush ran for both Congress (in 1979) and the White House (2000) promising to privatize Social Security and Medicare. In 2005 he tried mightily to privatize Social Security, scheduling a multi-city tour across America to promote the idea.

He had “political capital” from winning the 2004 election based on his “war president” credential and, he said, he was going to use it.