'Band-Aid on a Tumor': Critics Blast Biden Rebrand of Trump's Medicare Privatization Scheme

[douglas9]

"Changing the name doesn't change the fact that the Direct Contracting program is backdoor privatization of Medicare," said one progressive advocate.

Rejecting pressure to terminate the program in its entirety, the Biden administration on Thursday announced it is redesigning a Trump-era experiment that physicians and progressive lawmakers have criticized as a scheme to fully privatize Medicare.

"This dangerous experiment must be stopped before it further harms the health of vulnerable seniors."

Instead of ending what's known as the Direct Contracting model, which the Trump administration officially launched in 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave the program a new name: ACO REACH, which stands for Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health.

In addition to the name change and fresh veneer—a step in line with the healthcare industry's call for a "rebranding"—CMS said the program will now span four years instead of eight and will include requirements aimed at ensuring "transparency" and "equity."

The changes are slated to take effect on January 1, 2023.

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a doctor-led group that has spearheaded the opposition to Direct Contracting, was far from satisfied with the Biden administration's changes, which the organization argued are more cosmetic than substantive.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/02/25/band-aid-tumor-critics-blast-biden-rebrand-trumps-medicare-privatization-scheme

[Tadpole Raisin]

1. Rebranding: the modern term for lipstick on a pig

Let’s hope it is not that.

[Voltaire2]

2. The corruption is swept under the rug.

Medicare is mined for money. Under Republicans the corruption is out in the open. Unfortunately the hooks into DC are so extensive that under Democratic administrations the best that happens is some reform of the framework of the corruption. It is maddening, the corruption might be intractable at this point. All we can do is get more progressive Democrats in office and hold them accountable.

[gab13by13]

4. This needs to be publicized and stopped.

Has this been passed in Congress? If not, why can't it be stopped?

[gab13by13]

3. This needs more publicity,

I have had zero problems with my Medicare and I have had a couple of operations and I had more flexibility to choose my doctor and the hospital than working people who were on private insurance. I talked with the hospital's insurance people and the person told me that she would much rather deal with Medicare patients than private insurance patients, there are less problems.

It's bad enough that Medicare Advantage plans are hurting Medicare, this sounds like something similar.

[gab13by13]

5. If it's slated to take effect in 2023

when did it pass, how can it be stopped?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

6. Well, that's extremely disappointing,

to say the least.

[Susan Calvin]

7. The article says.

That you can be put on it without your consent, and that you can't get off unless you change primary care physicians. Sounds like involuntary Medicare Advantage to me.

[wackadoo wabbit]

8. k&r