MASS GOP & ADOLESCENT BLOVIATOR LOGAN TRUPIANO: 

WHERE ARE YOU? 

YOU WHINE, COMPLAIN, CRITICIZE & CONDEMN....WHERE ARE YOUR 

SOLUTIONS? 

YOUR VOTE & YOUR SUPPORT MATTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE!

TODAY IN MASSACHUSETTS, THE FOR PROFIT HEALTH SCAM STEWARD ANNOUNCED THE CLOSURE OF 2 HOSPITALS....

STEWARD IS IN BANKRUPTCY...THEIR CEO OWNS 2 $40 MILLION YACHTS and there are accusations that he own luxury properties....this will put hundreds out of work in violation of statutes, deny communities of HEALTH CARE....

STEWARD failed to pay bills and medical equipment was previously 'repossessed,' rendering 

facilities unable to perform surgeries.... 

The MEDICAL ADVANTAGE FOR PROFIT SCAM is widely known.

A protestor in New York City holds a sign aimed at private equity firms that deal in the healthcare industry. 

(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

'Health Over Wealth': New Bill Would Crack Down on Private Equity in US Healthcare

"We have a duty to protect patients from greedy corporations that are prioritizing their bottom line over patient care," Rep. Pramila Jayapal said.

Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Thursday introduced legislation that would tighten the rules on private equity firms in the healthcare industry.

The Health Over Wealth Act would increase the powers of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to monitor and block private equity deals in the healthcare industry. It would require private equity firms buying healthcare providers to set up escrow accounts large enough to fund five years of operations, and would require more transparency on debt, executive pay, and other financial data, while prohibiting the "stripping" of assets.

"Private equity firms and greedy corporate executives are using the healthcare system as a piggybank," Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security, said in a statement. "Putting profit over patients' results in substandard care, while health workers suffer, and communities are left to clean up the mess."

Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emphasized the toll that the private equity approach has on patients.

"Private equity firms buying up health care systems are simply bad news for patients, leading to worse health outcomes and higher bills," said Jayapal, who had previously introduced narrower legislation on private equity in healthcare. "We have a duty to protect patients from greedy corporations that are prioritizing their bottom line over patient care."

The bill's introduction came as the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday voted to launch an investigation into profit-first practices at Steward Health Care, a for-profit system formerly owned by a private equity firm and now in bankruptcy.

HELP voted to subpoena Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre, whom CBS News, which has conducted a series of investigations into the negative impact of private equity firms on community hospitals, described as "reclusive." De la Torre bought a 190-foot megayacht even as Steward's hospitals failed to pay their bills and keep supplies of life-saving equipment available, CBS reported.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), HELP's chair and a cosponsor of the Health Over Wealth Act, called out de la Torre on social media on Thursday.

"Private equity vultures are making a fortune by taking over hospitals and leaving them in shambles," he wrote. "It's time for the CEO of Steward Health Care to get off his yacht and explain to Congress how he got rich while bankrupting the hospitals he manages."

The other cosponsors of the new bill include only a handful of progressive senators and representatives, but concern about the role of private equity in healthcare goes beyond progressive circles. The HELP Committee, which includes 10 Republicans, voted 20-1 to launch the investigation into Steward. And a Bloomberg columnist on Thursday published an opinion piece entitled "Steward Health is a case study in executive greed" and subtitled: "Why is populism on the rise? The gutting of a community hospital system illustrates why so many Americans feel betrayed by big business."

The negative impact of private equity's role in the healthcare industry is significant. Researchers at Harvard Medical School found an "alarming increase in patient complications" at private equity-owned hospitals in a study published in December in JAMA, a leading medical journal.

The new bill, which Markey previewed at a field hearing in Massachusetts in April, may be a long-shot for passage, given corporate influence in Congress. Axios called it "more aspirational than legislative" at the time.

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Week in Review: A Debate Disaster When 'Stakes Could Not Be Higher'

 

MATCH TODAY ONLY Every dollar contributed between now and midnight will be matched 100%. If you give $10, we’ll get $20. If you give $50, we’ll get $100. Don’t miss your chance. Donate now to support Common Dreams and double your impact. Thank you! DONATE NOW Saturday, June 29, 2024 ■ The Week in Review 'The Stakes Could Not Be Higher': Debate Disaster Ignites Calls for Biden to Step Aside "You're deluded if you believe Joe Biden, at this stage of his life, is the best person Democrats have to offer against Donald Trump, against a fascist," said journalist Mehdi Hasan. By Jake Johnson • Jun 28, 2024 'Genocide Denial': Tlaib, Lee Slam Bipartisan Effort to Suppress Gaza Death Toll "They want to erase the Palestinians who are living," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, "and now they are trying to erase the Palestinians who are dead." By Brett Wilkins • Jun 27, 2024 Geoengineering Foes Say 'No' to Pouring 60K Gallons of Sodium Hydroxide Into Waters Off Cape Cod "The geoengineering approach puts Earth's systems at risk in a faulty and false bid toward solving the climate crisis. It is what we call a false solution," said one campaigner. By Julia Conley • Jun 26, 2024 Top Democrat Accuses House GOP of 'Full-Scale Attempt to Eliminate Public Education' Rep. Rosa DeLauro said Republicans' newly proposed funding cuts threaten "the future of an entire generation." By Jake Johnson • Jun 26, 2024 'Dangerous Precedent': Record AIPAC Spending Helps George Latimer Defeat Jamaal Bowman "Jamaal and our movement were such a threat to right-wing power, to GOP megadonors, and to AIPAC's influence in Congress that they had to spend $15 million to defeat us," said one progressive organizer. By Jake Johnson • Jun 26, 2024 Alarms Raised Over For-Profit Medicare Advantage Using AI to Deny Care to Seniors "Insurers using AI to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities means sacrificing patient needs on the altar of corporate greed," said one campaigner. By Brett Wilkins • Jun 25, 2024 Sanders Report Details Plot by Right-Wing Billionaires to 'Sabotage' Public Education "Instead of siphoning money and increasing tax breaks to subsidize private education, we have a responsibility to ensure all students have access to quality K-12 education." By Jake Johnson • Jun 25, 2024 'Julian Assange Is Free': WikiLeaks Founder Strikes Plea Deal With US "We thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom," said WikiLeaks. "Julian's freedom is our freedom." By Common Dreams Staff • Jun 24, 2024 ​Watchdog Memos Show a Trump 'Utterly Indifferent to the Public Interest' in First Term The group's leader said the media should "cover the Biden vs. Trump election as a comparison between how each president administered the immensely important executive branch." By Edward Carver • Jun 24, 2024 'Truly Horrifying': Trump Allies Already Making List of Federal Employees to Target "This is an intimidation tactic to try to menace federal workers and sow fear," said the American Federation of Government Employees. By Jake Johnson • Jun 24, 2024 VIEW ALL NEWS JOIN THE MOVEMENT As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. JOIN WITH US TODAY ■ Opinion Toxic Blend of Zionism, Militarism, and Right-Wing Spending Take Down Jamaal Bowman The merger of American and Israeli militarism is now more comprehensive than ever. Which is why it's imperative to support those who show the courage to stand against bigotry and war crimes while defending universal human rights and international law. By Norman Solomon • Jun 26, 2024 Trump and the GOP Want to Drown the Middle Class in the Bathtub As the middle class shrinks and poverty grows, the cash stash at the very top of the American economic pyramid grows exponentially. By Thom Hartmann • Jun 25, 2024 The American Billionaires Who Fell In Love With Fascism Are Not the First The ultra-rich will happily march us into a dictatorship if we let them. By Mike Lofgren • Jun 24, 2024 Pillaging by the Super-Rich Will Continue Until the Working Class Revolts American workers are not stupid. They're getting fleeced and they know it. But until we rebuild large scale working-class power, it’s going to be a very rough ride. By Les Leopold • Jun 24, 2024 Trump Has Violated At Least Half of the 10 Commandments He Wants Placed in US Public Schools In the wake of Louisiana’s new law, it is essential to consider the ways in which Trump’s perverse exploitation of religion is a clear and present danger to U.S. democracy that fails in moral terms. By Chris Edelson • Jun 24, 2024 VIEW ALL OPINION Call 207.775.0488 to donate by phone or mail a check to: Common Dreams · PO Box 443 · Portland, ME 04112-0443 · USA Common Dreams is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your contribution is tax-deductible. EIN: 20-3368194

               MEDICARE ADVANTAGE was a FOR PROFIT SCAM created by REPUBICANS 

                and is little more than a SCAM! 

                PROTECT YOURSELF! 

Alarms Raised Over For-Profit Medicare Advantage Using AI to Deny Care to Seniors

"Insurers using AI to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities means sacrificing patient needs on the altar of corporate greed," said one campaigner.

Dozens of Democratic U.S. lawmakers joined consumer and patient advocates on Tuesday in sounding the alarm over the use of artificial intelligence by companies providing Medicare Advantage plans to deny healthcare to their senior customers.

Fifty-one Democratic members of Congress and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Books LaSure on Tuesday expressing their concern over Medicare Advantage (MA) providers' increasing use of algorithmic systems to deny patient care.

"Plans continue to use AI tool to erroneously deny care and contradict provider assessment findings," the letter notes. "Last year, a class action lawsuit was filed alleging that UnitedHealth Group unlawfully used an AI algorithm, nH Predict, to deny rehabilitative care to sick Medicare Advantage patients."

"The lawsuit cites an investigation suggesting that UnitedHealth Group pressured employees to use the algorithm to issue payment denials to Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and set a goal for employees to keep patient rehabilitation stays within 1% of the length of stay predicted by nH Predict," the lawmakers continued.

MA plans are not part of Medicare. They are a private health insurance "scam" created by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by then-President George W. Bush "as a way of routing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of for-profit insurance companies," according to frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Thom Hartmann.

Advocates have warned about the use of AI in MA denials since at least last year, while imploring congressional and regulator action to protect seniors and people with disabilities from being preyed upon by what critics have called "Medicare disadvantage" companies.

In February, CMS "clarified that Medicare Advantage organizations may use algorithms, artificial intelligence, and related technologies to assist in making coverage determinations, but these technologies may not override standards related to medical necessity and other applicable rules for how coverage determinations by Medicare Advantage organizations are made."

Rights groups echoed the lawmakers' concerns about the use of AI for MA denials.

"Medicare Advantage insurers using AI to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities means sacrificing patient needs on the altar of corporate greed," Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said. "CMS must expand upon the steps it has already taken to improve oversight of companies using AI to deny care that would be covered by traditional Medicare."

"It is time to protect enrollees by cracking down on Medicare Advantage insurers using AI to deny needed care through additional reporting requirements and increased enforcement actions against bad actors," Gilbert added.

David Lipschutz, associate director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said in a statement that "in our experience, MA plans' use of AI or algorithmic software has led to more inappropriate denials and premature terminations of care—this must end."

A report published earlier this month revealed that MA plans have overcharged the federal government by $612 billion since 2007—and $82 billion last year alone. Another report published last year by Physicians for a National Health Program found that MA plans are also overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, enough to erase all Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.

A 2022 U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation found that insurance companies and other brokers are "running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists" making false or misleading claims to dupe seniors into buying MA plans. In February 2023, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) reintroduced legislation to change the official name of MA to "alternative private health plan" to make clear that such coverage is offered by for-profit companies.

Advocates hold signs during a news conference on Medicare Advantage plans in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on July 25, 2023.

 (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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