Trump Bumps Traditional Medicare for Private Plans; Local Resolutions Tally Up.
Welcome to this week’s edition of “We’ve Got You Covered,” a weekly tipsheet designed to highlight key news about Medicare for All and call out the biggest industry lies and falsehoods about universal health care. Please send tips, feedback and questions to Mike Stankiewicz at mstankiewicz@citizen.org or (202) 588-7779.
TRUMP PUTS MEDICARE IN THE CROSSHAIRS
In yet another move to undermine health care, President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week that weakened protections for seniors in traditional Medicare and ordered the administration to undertake efforts to push more Americans into the hands of private insurers.
“This order serves only the powerful corporations that seek to profit off the health care of seniors,” said Eagan Kemp, Public Citizen’s health care policy advocate. “By continuing to allow Medicare Advantage plans to cherry-pick healthy seniors while leaving the sickest to be covered through traditional Medicare, these plans threaten access to health care for seniors and people with disabilities.”
Trump’s push for private plans continues to go against popular opinion. A majority of Americans continue to support Medicare for All as stories of crowdfunding to pay for medical expenses continue to flood the media. Under Medicare for All, no American would need to forgo a procedure or beg their friends and families for funds to support their health care.
LOCAL RESOLUTIONS START ADDING UP
Americans are continuing to demand that their local lawmakers pledge their support for guaranteed health care through local resolutions, and Public Citizen is helping lead that effort.
The city council of Tucson, Ariz., with a population of over half a million, passed a resolution on Sept. 17. Other localities that passed resolutions recently include Watsonville, Calif., on Aug. 28, Norristown, Pa., on Aug. 20 and Carpinteria, Calif., on Aug. 12. Activists in more than 200 communities across the country are working to pass city and town county resolutions.
“The drive for local resolutions demanding Medicare for All is only increasing, as is the growing support for this commonsense health care solution,” said Melinda St. Louis, director of Public Citizen’s Medicare for All campaign. “This is how change happens, building from ground up. Next stop: Congress.”
REMINDER: Because Medicare for All would cover all medical needs, including vision, dental and long-term care, with no out-of-pocket costs, seniors currently on Medicare would have vastly improved coverage and no longer would need to purchase supplemental insurance or enter into private Medicate Advantage plans. Private insurance would cover only lifestyle treatments considered medically unnecessary, such as treatments for baldness, Botox treatments to enhance lips and eyelash-enhancing drugs.
Medicare for All would be better able to streamline bureaucracy and patients no longer would face narrow networks or denials of coverage, as they do now in Medicare Advantage.
To speak with a Medicare for All policy expert, or if you have questions about Public Citizen’s work, please contact Mike Stankiewicz at mstankiewicz@citizen.org or (202) 588-7779.