07/09/2024
Below is an excerpt that should give EVERYONE pause before engaging with a Medicare Advantage Plan! The only ones served by the Medicare Advantage plans are the private insurance companies. You can read the full article by clicking the link:
https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/medicare-health-insurance-diagnosis-payments-b4d99a5d?st=2vdas0fpyug0ui5
Taken from the Wall Street Journal:
Diabetic cataracts are a complication of diabetes that occur when uncontrolled blood sugar damages the lens of the eye, clouding a person’s vision.
UnitedHealth members were about 15 times as likely to have that diagnosis as the average patient in traditional Medicare, the Journal analysis found. Eye doctors interviewed by the Journal said it was implausible that such a large share of UnitedHealth’s patients could have the relatively rare disease.
The government paid all Medicare Advantage insurers more than $700 million from 2019 to 2021 for diabetic cataracts. Most of the diagnoses were added by insurers.
Questionable diagnoses of HIV and other maladies triggered extra Medicare Advantage payments. “It’s anatomically impossible,” said one doctor about some cataract diagnoses.
