Public Citizen: Medicare Advantage Denies Needed, Care To Pad Insurer Profits

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a report Thursday, which found that Medicare Advantage plans deny needed care that should be covered to tens of thousands of people a year.

Eagan Kemp, health care policy advocate for Public Citizen, released the following statement.

"Today's staggering report highlights just how dangerous Medicare Advantage is for seniors when it comes to accessing needed care. Increasing rates of denials of medically necessary care, even when it meets required standards, means that seniors are going without care so that insurance companies can increase their profits.

"Seniors with similar needs would have likely received the care they needed under traditional Medicare. These outrageous findings come on the back of recent GAO reports highlighting that seniors with significant medical needs, including end-of-life care, are regularly being pushed out of Medicare Advantage and into traditional Medicare.

"We cannot continue to allow Medicare Advantage to be a source of profit for greedy companies and a source of suffering for seniors. In the short term, the Biden administration must immediately step up oversight of the companies. In the long run, we must improve traditional Medicare and expand it to everyone in the country. We need Medicare for All."