A little known company, Clover Health, has done quite a job breaking into the Medicare Advantage business. It raised millions from Wall Street, went public, and upped its valuation into the billions of dollars. At the time of its IPO, it did not disclose it was under federal investigation. Forbes reports that Clover Health has strong ties to Walgreens and SeekMedicare, a for-profit Medicare counseling business, which appears to be steering folks to enroll in Clover Health.
The Justice Department has been investigating Clover Health because of its relationship with SeekMedicare. SeekMedicare is accused of misleading its customers, providing them with biased information about their Medicare choices. SeekMedicare claims it is “independent” and “unbiased” even though it is a subsidiary of Clover Health, and Walgreens is one of its investors.
SeekMedicare operates in-person Medicare advisor programs in nearly 100 Walgreens stores. It tells older adults that it offers unbiased information about their Medicare choices. It’s not clear the extent to which it is steering people to Clover Health, but odds are it is.
The bigger problem: There’s nothing stopping any entity from claiming it can help people choose a Medicare plan. And, there’s nothing stopping these entities from steering people to the Medicare Advantage plans that maximize their profits, even when those plans are not the best choice. On top of that, insurers can pay insurance agents and brokers in ways that can lead the agents and brokers to steer people to Medicare Advantage plans that increase their earnings without considering the needs of the people they advise.
What you can do: Every state offers free health insurance counseling to people with Medicare through a state health insurance counseling program or SHIP. SHIPs are designed to give people impartial advice. Click here to find the SHIP in your state.
What Congress can do: Congress should own the fact that the Medicare Advantage program is not cost-effective and is fully rigged to maximize profits at the expense of people’s health care needs. Congress also should end Medicare Advantage as it currently operates and revisit whether there is a way to offer people private insurance coverage that works without endangering the lives of vulnerable older and disabled Americans.
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