Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
Scheinman is basically a scribe for the City-MLC, not an independent arbitrator.... James, ICE Blog
More from Jonathan:
Collusion: I have made the case before: Mulgrew, Nespoli, Garrido, the whole
MLC, Scheinman, Adams, and the City’s financial administration, starting
with the OLR, plus the insurance companies – they are all working in
concert. They are colluding. And they leave the evidence all over the
place ...I am absolutely convinced that Scheinman worked with the City and the
leadership of the MLC unions, including Mulgrew’s people, in creating
his 12/15/22 “Opinion and Award.” JD271Collusion and Bullying by OLR/UFT/MLC (Mulgrew et al)
UFT Ex Bd member Nick chimes in at New Action on the brewing UFT/MLC/Adams/Scheinman Scandal:
Nick has also been pointing out that Mulgrew and Unity try to paint the thousands of people who opted out and support the battle to preserve our healthcare as the bad guys:
Scandal ridden healthcare is what Mulgrew, another scam artist, is trying to put us into. And he claims going with Aetna, owned by CVS, will save money.
Nothing like overbilling to save money. And this:
I reported on the Scheinman decision at ed notes yesterday:
Scheinman is not an independent arbitrator here. He has been chairing
the Tripartite City-MLC commission on healthcare. How does he have
jurisdiction in this matter as the City and union leaders are basically
in agreement here?
Jonathan agrees with James about Scheinman having no jurisdiction:
Scheinman’s decision-making power as the arbitrator for the
Tripartite Health Insurance Policy Committee arises in the case of a
dispute
Where is the dispute? Does Scheinman actually have any authority
here? There are no positions for the parties, because the parties appear
to be not in dispute. Everyone agrees about who needs to get screwed
(me, and you).
Scheinman NOT designated arbitrator for Medicare Advantage issue
Oh, and oh no. Scheinman has been named to resolve disputes on items
1-4 in Appendix B. But the current issue, Medicare Advantage, comes from
item 5. The agreement doesn’t cover point 5. Maybe that’s why Scheinman
does not begin by establishing his authority? Point 5 only calls for
recommendations.
As yet another scandal involving Medicare Advantage made
headlines this week, progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates renewed
calls to abolish the private health insurance program.
Photograph Source: Molly Adams – CC BY 2.0 (CounterPunch),
As yet another scandal involving Medicare Advantage made headlines this
week, progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates renewed calls to abolish
the private health insurance program that a recent Senate report said is "running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists."
"In reality, so-called 'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage."
In a new Nationarticle written
with health insurance reform advocate Wendell Potter, Reps. Ro Khanna
(D-Calif.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) contend that one of the most
confusing things facing elders while choosing their Medicare plans "is a
scheme by private insurance companies to prey on seniors and profit off
of the Medicare brand, all in the name of padding their corporate
profits and shareholder returns."
"The scheme is called Medicare Advantage. But in reality, so-called
'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage," wrote the
lawmakers, who earlier this year introduced legislation that, if passed, would ban private insurance plans from using the Medicare name.
"It's actually just private insurance that uses the trusted Medicare
name to trick seniors and people with disabilities into enrolling, then
profits by denying coverage for necessary medical care," Khanna and
Pocan added. "It is long past time for Congress to end this scam and
ensure that consumers get accurate information about their healthcare
options."
On Monday, Kaiser Health Newsdetailed how
insurance companies selling Medicare Advantage plans "have repeatedly
tried to sidestep regulations requiring them to document medical
conditions the government paid them to treat."
The KHN report said that government auditors "uncovered
millions of dollars in improper payments—citing overcharges of more than
$1,000 per patient a year on average—by nearly two dozen health plans."
This follows a Senate Finance Committee report published last
month that found insurance companies and other brokers are making false
or misleading claims to dupe senior citizens into purchasing Medicare
Advantage plans.
An investigation published in October by The New York Timesfound that insurance companies are exploiting Medicare Advantage plans to rake in billions of dollars in excess profits.
In April, the inspector-general's office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report revealing that Medicare Advantage plans deny medically necessary care to tens of thousands of enrollees each year.
Nearly half of Medicare's 60 million beneficiaries are currently
enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, and the majority of U.S. seniors
are expected to be signed up by next year.
The ACO-REACH program, a Trump-era scheme set to take effect on
January 1st that would shift some Medicare recipients to private
insurance plans without their knowledge or consent, is also raising eyebrows and ire.
Common Dreamsreported Monday
that 21 progressive lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services Administrator Brooks-LaSure to investigate ACO-REACH,
which the signers said "provides an opportunity for healthcare insurers
with a history of defrauding and abusing Medicare and ripping off
taxpayers to further encroach on the Medicare system."
[Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.]
Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
No comments:
Post a Comment