Media Release
| For Immediate Release | Contact | Phone |
| July 25, 2007 | Eve Weissman | 856-966-3091 |
NJ Citizen Action Report: Medicare Privatization has Wasted Millions of
New Jersey Dollars
Wasteful spending enriches health industry CEOs at the expense of taxpayers and beneficiaries
Camden, NJ — A privatized Medicare plan involving nearly 20 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries is costing seniors and other NJ taxpayers millions in corporate handouts and threatening Medicare's ability to care for its 47 million beneficiaries, according to an analysis released today by NJ Citizen Action.
"When President Bush tried to privatize Social Security in 2005, NJ Citizen Action led the resistance in New Jersey," said NJ Citizen Action Organizer, Eve Weissman. "Now Medicare is headed down a similar path, and NJ's entire Congressional Delegation needs to join their colleagues in Congress who are committed to ensuring that our public health care funds go toward people's health care, not into health industry CEOs' wallets."
The privatization mechanism, known as Medicare Advantage, was developed under the mistaken assumption that private insurers could provide the same services as Medicare at a lower cost. But like all privatization schemes, the reverse was true. Costs have gone up, and, in many cases, services have disappeared.
The analysis, prepared by USAction Education Fund for release by NJ Citizen Action, found an average overpayment among the 113,073 Medicare Advantage enrollees in NJ of 4.9 percent. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has found that, nationwide, the average beneficiary overpays by 12 percent. The report can be downloaded or obtained by calling Eve Weissman at 856-966-3091.
NJ Citizen Action, other USAction affiliates and a diverse coalition of organizations representing beneficiaries, service providers and health care administrators are united in calling on Congress to reverse the privatization of Medicare.
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New Jersey Citizen Action is the state's largest independent citizen watchdog coalition, working to protect and expand the rights of individuals and families and to ensure that government officials respond to the needs of people rather than the interests of those with money and power. Through organizing campaigns that promote economic, social, racial and political justice, NJCA encourages the active involvement of New Jersey residents in challenging the public and private institutions and agencies that impact our lives.
