Last night, the United States Senate approved legislation that endangers the future of Medicare and of access to health care for millions of older and disabled people. Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate followed the President's lead – providing meager help for Medicare beneficiaries and their doctors, while retaining huge, wasteful subsidies for private Medicare plans.

"Fearing the President’s threatened veto, the Senate refused to reduce Medicare's well-documented, lavish overpayments to private insurance plans," said Judith Stein, Executive Director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy. "Instead, they continued funding billions of dollars in subsidies for corporate profits. Thus, private Medicare plans will continue to receive government welfare rather than older and disabled people receiving better Medicare coverage."

So-called Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, offered by private health insurance companies, are paid an average of 12% more per beneficiary than Medicare would have paid had that beneficiary remained in traditional Medicare.  "If these payments were reined in, there would be additional resources to strengthen programs to help all people with Medicare and to focus on the more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries who are the poorest and sickest," said Ms. Stein.

As has been widely reported, MA plans are eager to increase the number of Medicare beneficiaries in their private plans. Too often, lucrative commissions encourage hard sell tactics.  Sales people prey on older and disabled people, using misinformation and trickery to enroll them.

"The next session of Congress must end the lavish private Medicare subsidies and the unethical tactics private plans use to recruit people," said Ms. Stein. "Time is running out," she continued, "If the subsidies are not eliminated soon the entire Medicare program and millions of sick and disabled people will sink under their weight."

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The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc. is a national non‑profit, non-partisan organization that provides education, advocacy, and legal assistance to help elders and people with disabilities obtain Medicare and necessary health care. The Center was established in 1986.  We focus on the needs of Medicare beneficiaries, people with chronic conditions, and those in need of long‑term care. The organization is involved in writing, education, and advocacy activities of importance to Medicare beneficiaries nationwide. The Center for Medicare Advocacy is headquartered in Connecticut, with offices in Washington, DC and throughout the country.