Humana, a major health care provider, has been ordered by the Federal Government to cease and desist from a program of mailings to their clients with negative information about the proposed health care legislation.  I believe the actions of Senator Max Baucus and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are despicable and are just another indication that the liberal majorities in Congress and the Administration will not tolerate opinions which are different than their agenda. 

To state the obvious, the more government becomes involved in segments of the economy, the more those segments lose freedom to run their businesses and even to speak out against the abuse of power by the bureaucracies. 

Humana and other health care vendors receive government money and the government thinks that means that they can muzzle these companies from voicing their opinions on pending legislation. 

Despicable, unconstitutional and frightening to those who love this country and the freedoms upon which it was built. 

NPR Health Blog (NPR is National Public Radio – hardly a right wing outlet) has an article today <link here> which describes the sequence of events.  The Huffington Post – again not exactly a right wing source – has provided a copy of the Humana mailing which generated the controversy.  <link here>

Different news accounts indicate that the President wants to cut out the Medicare Advantage plans (Medicare Part C) in order to save 100 to 500 billion dollars. The President has objected to the government subsidies paid to the providers, considering these subsidies in his category of waste and abuse.  As usual, my only response is Horsepuckey. Don’t let me confuse you with these technical terms.  I believe the President is misrepresenting the facts and merely wants to eliminate a partial privatization of the Medicare programs.

Most Medicare part A services (hospitalization) are provided to Medicare recipients without a premium charged for the coverages if the recipient has worked and paid Medicare taxes for 40 calendar quarters in their working life.  A premium for coverage is charged for Medicare part B (doctors services) – typically less than $100 per month. These programs provide government paid services for approximately 80% of a patients costs.  Most seniors purchase private insurance (medigap coverage) to help with the costs not covered by Medicare.

The Medicare Advantage plans were put in place by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 – under President Clinton.  The bill offered Medicare recipients the option of receiving their Medicare services through private insurance vendors.  The government negotiated the benefits packages with the health care vendors and the Medicare Advantage plans replaced the Medicare A and B services. The government pays the vendors a premium contribution in addition to the premium charged to the recipient.  (President Obama’s wasteful subsidy). The recipient pays a monthly premium (automatically deducted from Social Security payments – like the part B premiums) which is close to the part B premium that they were paying.  The plans cover more of the costs than part A and B coverages, they offer additional service emphasizing preventive care (physicals, eye and dental coverages for example).  Medigap coverages are not necessary.  The Medicare Advantage plans provided prescription coverage before Part D was implemented.  Most important they give recipients choices to fit their expected needs.  Multiple providers and multiple plans from providers allow the recipient to shade their costs and coverages toward the needs they expect to have during the next year.  The vendors renegotiate their plans with the government each year and the recipient makes new choices each year based upon their experience with the company. 

The government gains from the part C programs by buying health coverage at a fixed and predictable cost per patient.  They transfer the administration of the plans to private companies.  The insurance companies offer plans which are specific to the county or regional needs and circumstances.  They negotiate their contracts with doctors and medical providers locally and have an incentive to identify fraud and problem providers within each local area. My perception is that the Medicare Advantage plans offer value and cost control in an environment that does not prize these features.  Most important they offer choice to the recipients.  Not just a choice among the plans but a choice to accept the Part C programs instead of A and B. There is nobody in the Medicare Advantage plans who did not choose to be there.

But the plans represent a partial privatization of Medicare and is therefore an anathema to the President and the leaders of Congress.  The left does not believe in free choice, you will remember.  They believe that government knows better what each of us needs. The President who promised that nobody would be removed from their existing coverages wants to eliminate the Medicare Advantage plans impacting 20% of seniors on Medicare.

So the heavy hand of government has told Humana that they cannot tell their clients that they are going to lose services.  They cannot tell their policy holders to speak up if they disagree with this outcome.  The same government that fired CEOs of auto companies and banks and now must approve salary packages of banks is telling a major health care company that they can not voice their opinions to their own customers.  This is WRONG - and it is getting worse by the day. 

And by the way – do you think they would have silenced Humana if the company had agreed with them?

WAKE UP AMERICA !!