Say No to the
Privatization of Medicare!
Traditional Medicare was created in 1965 as a public good to provide a national health care system for seniors and the disabled in the United States and has proven to be our most efficient and effective public health care program with administrative costs accounting for only 2-3% of Medicare spending.
However over the last 20 years the federal government has created various for-profit privatized health care programs within Medicare including Medicare Part D (prescription drugs), MediGap (Part B) (supplemental plans to cover Medicare’s 20% copays), and Medicare Advantage (Part C) which is permitted to take up to 15% of every Medicare dollar for administration and profits for managing Medicare claims.
Additionally, the Trump administration doubled down on privatizing Medicare through the Direct Contracting Pilot, rebranded under the Biden Administration as ACO-REACH, which allows private equity firms and Wall Street companies to take up to 25% or more of every Medicare dollar for administration and profits for managing Medicare claims.
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Recent reports by the HHS Inspector General, academic researchers, and investigative journalists have uncovered wide-ranging fraudulent practices, confirming that upcoding, delaying medically necessary care, and the denial of claims by insurers and other private businesses managing Medicare claims, together account for defrauding the Medicare Trust Fund and Medicare beneficiaries of many billions of dollars annually.
PSARA is working with groups across the nation that recognize privatization of Medicare is unacceptable and are fighting for major changes to fix it. Our campaign to terminate Medicare privatization and to protect and strengthen traditional Medicare is grounded in the following seven goals:
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1. Expose and educate PSARA members, policy makers, and the wider public on how Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Shared Savings plans, and other “innovative” reimbursement plans are undermining traditional Medicare, fleecing the Medicare Trust Fund and taxpayers, and delaying and denying critical care to seniors.
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2. Level the playing field by allowing Medicare to offer the same level of benefits to beneficiaries as the Medicare Advantage plans.
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3. Require private insurers and companies to pay back to the Medicare Trust Fund, with interest, the money they stole and make restitution to the Medicare beneficiaries to whom they delayed or denied care.
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4. Remove fraudulent actors from the Medicare system.
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5. The DCE/ACO REACH pilot can and should be terminated immediately. Until then, no further corporate participants should be allowed into the pilot.
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6. Allow Medicare beneficiaries to move from Medicare Advantage plans to traditional Medicare during the annual open enrollment periods seamlessly.
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7. Support Reps. Pocan and Khanna’s bill, the Save Medicare Act, relabeling Medicare Advantage plans “alternative private health plans” and fining private insurers that use Medicare in plan titles or advertisements.
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PSARA’s goal is to create a movement around protecting and strengthening traditional Medicare, ending Medicare as a profit center for private enterprise, and building a sound foundation for Medicare for All. We hope you will join us in this fight.

See the Latest PSARA Presentations
in our Fight to stop Medicare Privatization
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Here are links to slides from our three most recent Presentations and webinars:
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"We Can Reclaim Medicare From Greedy Profiteers" PSARA’s September 13, 2023 Webinar with Ed Weisbart
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"Pirates of the Medicaribbean” Presented by Rick Timmons and Ellen Menshew
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"Pulling back the Curtain: Lies, Fraud, and Naked Profiteering in Medicare Privatization Schemes.” Presented by Wendell Potter

Ellen Menshew and Richard Timmons Present “Pirates of the Medicaribbean” in Port Townsend. The presentation outlines how privatization of Medicare is providing poor outcomes for Medicare patients while plundering the Medicare Trust Fund.
Below are additional resources to help you better understand the issue and hopefully join PSARA in taking action to protect Medicare. In addition to the webinars below PSARA is hosting a webinar by Dr. Ed Weisbart on September 13th at 5:00 p.m. PT. The webinar is entitled: “We Can Reclaim Medicare from the Greedy Profiteers”. Click here to get information on the webinar and click here to register for the webinar.
PSARA Webinars/Presentations:
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"We Can Reclaim Medicare From Greedy Profiteers" PSARA’s September 13, 2023 Webinar with Ed Weisbart
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"Pirates of the Medicaribbean” Slides presented by PSARA members Rick Timmons and Ellen Menshew
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"Pulling back the Curtain: Lies, Fraud, and Naked Profiteering in Medicare Privatization Schemes.” Presented by Wendell Potter, Mr. Potter was previously an executive in the healthcare industry. He brings a unique perspective to the overall healthcare debate and the attempted privatization of Medicare. Mr. Potter is currently the President of the Center for Health and Democracy and also a Co-founder of Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation.
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Ed Weisbart is the Chair of the Missouri Physicians for a National Health Program. Dr. Weisbart has done two Webinars for PSARA:​
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Testimonials, personal stories of Medicare Advantage delay and denial of care:
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Jacob: Too many families, like Jacob’s, are suffering from the predatory management tactics of Medicare Advantage insurers. PSARA is proud to have the support from the Be A Hero campaign to share these personal stories. We must never stop fighting to end the profiteering from these corporate predators. Please join us in this fight to “LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD”. Protect and expand Medicare!
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Rick Timmons: PSARA member Rick Timmons talks about how a slow approval process and delay in being able to schedule a surgery put his life at risk and significantly complicated his recovery from cancer.
More information from other organizations:
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"Level the Playing Field Between Medicare and Medicare Advantage” talking points
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"2023 Convention of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Resolutions #2023.01” Washington State Labor Council passed this resolution on July 20, 2023. The resolution calls out the existential threat to Medicare as a public program that is coming from the privatized Medicare Advantage plans and ACO REACH – a threat that has intensified under the Biden Administration. The resolution calls for leveling the playing field between Medicare Advantage and regular Medicare as well as stopping the overpayments to Medicare Advantage companies and recouping the overpayments already made due to fraud by Medicare Advantage insurance companies. This is an excellent resolution for groups to adopt to communicate to their members and representatives their position on this issue.
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"Grand Theft Medicare" 8/21/22 by Dick Conoboy, NW Citizen
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"The Stealth Plan to Privatize Medicare for All", 8/24/22 by Rick Staggenborg, Counterpunch
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Physicians for a National Health Program resources on DCE/ACO REACH: https://pnhp.org/direct-contracting-entities-handing-traditional-medicare-to-wall-street/
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6/7/18: Kip Sullivan article on CMS evaluation of several "medical home" ACO programs: The verdict is in: All three of CMS’s “medical home” demonstrations have failed – The Health Care Blog
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1/16/22: For background on the origins of the ACO REACH program, here's a short article on the key Medicare official who for years has promoted corporate interests in federal health policy.
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2/24/22: American Journal of Managed Care https://www.ajmc.com/view/cms-redesigns-direct-contracting-into-an-equity-focused-aco-model
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5/19/22: Biden’s Little-Publicized Medicare Privatization Scheme Is Starting To Raise Alarm Bells https://portside.org/2022-05-19/bidens-little-publicized-medicare-privatization-scheme-starting-raise-alarm-bells
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An excellent webinar that addresses the lack of health equity in the ACO REACH proposal. DCEs & REACH: Health Equity or Private Equity? - YouTube
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Robby Stern, President of the PSARA Education Fund, was interviewed by Richard Eskow about ACO REACH and the privatization of traditional Medicare. Watch the interview on YouTube by clicking this link: https://youtu.be/6FKFsxRs-Rw
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Robby Stern was interviewed on Twitter Spaces on Jan. 27 about the Medicare Anti Privatization Campaign. Link here: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1jMKgLrlaOjGL?s=20l
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Webinar with Rep.Pramila Jayapal and members of PSARA on ACO Reach and privatization of Medicare. Link HERE