New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Insurance industry agrees to end abusive
Medicare Advantage marketing tactics
Executives from the
health insurance industry and America’s
Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), their
lobbying group, met with members of the
Senate Finance Committee on Monday to answer
questions about the abusive marketing
tactics used to sell Medicare Advantage and
Part D plans.
As a result of
increasing reports of seniors being
fraudulently enrolled in the programs and
subjected to hard-sell sales pitches, the
industry announced support for greater
supervision of insurance agents selling to
Medicare beneficiaries.
Additionally, they
agreed to end tactics such as door-to door
sales, cold calls and financial incentives
to bribe seniors to switch from traditional
Medicare. Committee Chairman
Max Baucus
(D-MT) applauded AHIP for supporting better
oversight, and said he plans to include and
expand on the ideas in new regulations.
According to
CQ Today,
the new Medicare legislation is expected
this spring. “I am glad that Sen. Baucus is
not simply agreeing to the insurers’
concessions and leaving the table,” said
Edward Coyle, Executive
Director of the Alliance.
“There is a long way to
go before traditional Medicare no longer has
to compete with the unfair advantages given
to the insurance industry.”
Alliance, Other Aging
Organizations Spell Out Seniors’ Federal
Budget Priorities
Senate Democrats unveiled a budget plan on
Tuesday that would provide $35 billion for a
second round of government spending aimed at
stimulating a weak economy.
As part of the
continuing effort to make sure that seniors’
voices are heard regarding the budget, on
Tuesday the Alliance was one of eight groups
to sign onto a letter from the Leadership
Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO), a
coalition of 53 non-profits dedicated to the
older population.
In the letters, sent to
Sen.
Kent Conrad
(D-ND), Chair of the Senate Budget
Committee, and Rep.
John Spratt
(D-SC), Chair of the House Budget Committee,
the groups spelled out why President Bush’s
FY 2009 budget proposals are detrimental to
the Medicare program.
They explained that
an expansion of means-testing would increase
beneficiary premiums and undermine the
social insurance nature of Medicare, and
that the arbitrary cap on general revenue
financing of Medicare limits meaningful
reform.
They stated further
that Medicare savings should be achieved by
stopping unwarranted subsidies to private
Medicare Advantage plans, and that the
budget resolution should provide resources
for necessary Medicare improvements, such as
helping those with limited incomes.
...
...
...