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GAO Report on Medicare Advantage Waste is
released
A Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report released Wednesday by House Ways and
Means Health Subcommittee Chairman
Pete Stark (D-CA) found that the private insurance
companies administering these plans have
spent less than projected on beneficiaries,
while raking in an extra $1.4 billion on top
of their $35 billion in profits.
The GAO examined plans representing 78% of MA enrollees,
and found the programs only spent 85.7% of
their total revenue on medical expenses in
2005, significantly below their projection
of 90.2%.
“Private plans in Medicare spend even less on medical care
than they report - to the tune of over a
billion dollars in one year alone,” said
Stark.
“These funds go directly into the pockets of big insurance
companies, not toward medical care for
beneficiaries.”
Added Ruben Burks,
Secretary Treasurer of the Alliance, “This
report provides hard evidence of what we
have said all along – these plans cost more
to deliver less than traditional Medicare.”