State Representative Tom Burch has introduced HB 445 which would end the ability of Medigap plans to charge higher rates or deny coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions.  The legislation is needed because seniors in Kentucky who purchase Medicare Advantage but later seek to return to traditional Medicare and purchase a Medigap plan are no longer protected from underwriting.

Such persons with pre-existing conditions can be charged sky high prices, or denied entirely, a supplementary Medigap plan.  The problem is discussed in Medpage Today.

There are only four states where there is some protection against discrimination for pre-existing conditions under these circumstances.  This article from Kaiser Family Foundation explains.

Republicans, Democrats and independents are all opposed to charging outrageous rates or refusing to sell policies to people because they are, or have been, sick.  The practice is clearly inhumane, and Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care asks all legislators to join with us in banning Medigap discrimination on the basis of pre-existing conditions.

Take Action!

Please call your representative and ask her or him to co-sponsor and support HB 445 so that we can end this injustice to seniors in Kentucky.

You can find your state representative here or here. 

Leave a message for your representative here:  1-800-372-7181

These are the representatives who are sponsoring HB 445:  T. Burch, T. Bojanowski, J. Donohue, C. Miller, P. Minter, J. Raymond, A. Scott, L. Willner

Currently there are massive ad campaigns to entice seniors to purchase Medicare Advantage plans by offering additional benefits and lower or no monthly premiums.  Such offers are compelling for Kentucky’s many seniors with fixed incomes and tight monthly budgets.

What the ads do not say is that for-profit Medicare Advantage plans place limits on which physicians you can see and which hospitals, rehab centers, and nursing homes you can use.  These private plans can also charge co-pays, drop physicians from their networks, and charge large payments for drugs.

The limitations of the Medicare Advantage plans only become apparent when a patient is sick and has to use the plan.  When seniors initially become eligible for Medicare, they are protected against discrimination for pre-existing conditions in the purchase of a “Medigap” plan to supplement traditional Medicare.  But those who purchase a Medicare Advantage plan and later seek to return to traditional Medicare will find that protection no longer applies.

In addition to the disadvantages brought to seniors by the Medicare Advantage plans, these plans also overbill the government by billions each year in a money grab that diverts Medicare money from health care into the pockets of the insurance companies.  By 2012 the diversion of Medicare funds to private companies had already cost Medicare over $282 billion, and it is projected that the overpayments to Medicare Advantage insurers will amount to $200 billion over the next decade.

Speaking on behalf of Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care, Dr. Garrett Adams stated that Rep. Tom Burch’s bill to end discrimination by Medigap plans on the basis of pre-existing conditions has strong public backing.  He added that the longer term solution must be the enactment of a national, improved Medicare for All plan that will finally cover everyone through a not-for-profit single payer system.  “Such a plan will end the waste caused by profits, free everyone to choose their own doctors, end discrimination for pre-existing conditions and remove all financial barriers to care,” Dr. Adams said.

The Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression honored Dr. Garrett Adams with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his leadership in the single payer/improved Medicare for All movement.  The award was presented on December 7, 2019, at the 22nd Annual Alliance Unity Dinner celebrating the 45th year since the founding of the Alliance.

Dr. Adams was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Wake Forest School of Medicine, where he was recognized as a Distinguished Lecturer.

He completed pediatric residency at Vanderbilt University Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, and Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship at the University of Colorado.

He has a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health by whom he was recently recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

In 2014 he was the Granger Lecturer at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine.

He is retired from the full-time faculty of the University of Louisville School of Medicine where he was Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Medical Director of Communicable Diseases at the Louisville Metro Health Department.

During his forty-year career he attended the health care needs of sick children and their young families. He witnessed deterioration in health care access and health care delivery in the United States and now works for health care reform as a member of Physicians for a National Health Program (www.PNHP.org). He is a founding member of PNHP-Kentucky (www.kyhealthcare.org), a member of the national Board of PNHP, and was national President of PNHP 2010-2012.

He is the founder (2010) and Medical Director of the Beersheba Springs Medical Clinic, Beersheba Springs, Tennessee, a not-for-profit, volunteer clinic in the Cumberland mountains of Tennessee (www.beershebaclinic.org).

In 2011 he testified to the U.S. Senate on “Is Poverty a Death Sentence”, based on his experience in Appalachia.

Congratulations, Dr. Adams, from all of us at Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care!

Thanks to Carrie Irwin for the photos.

Dr. Wayne Tuckson, a Louisville colorectal surgeon, past president of the Greater Louisville Medical Society, and host of Kentucky Health interviews economist Gerald Friedman on the meaning and financing of Medicare for All. The interview took place on October 24, 2019.

https://video.ket.org/video/health-insurance-for-all-what-does-it-mean-ebmtcm/

(Video of event by Stephen Mattingly is here.)

On October 24, 2019, at 7 pm, economist Gerald Friedman presented the Economic Case for Medicare for All to a full house at the Unitarian Church on 4th street in downtown Louisville.

Dr. Karen Krigger, who practices Family and Geriatric Medicine in Louisville, opened the program with remarks about the current crises in health care in Louisville.

Kentuckians came from as far away as Richmond to hear Dr. Friedman.

Dr. Garrett Adams, pediatrician and past president of the Physicians for a National Health Program, introduced Friedman who earned his doctorate in economics at Harvard and currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Dr. Friedman is an expert on the financing of single payer health care systems.   He studied HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All legislation, introduced in the House by Congressman John Conyers.

He found that over $500 billion could be saved each year by switching to this single payer program.

Dr. Friedman’s presentation gave compelling evidence that people in the United States are victims of an inferior health care system that brings suffering and early death to those who do not have the ability to pay the high cost of care.

He presented evidence that the U. S. spends more than twice, per capita, on health care as the other wealthy countries yet has poorer outcomes in life expectancy and other measures of quality.

He showed that, contrary to insurance company claims, additional funds spent on care produce improved outcomes and longevity.  He gave the figures that prove that co-pays and deductibles and the high cost of drugs are causing irreparable harm to Americans.

His studies show that one-third of Americans are going without necessary care because of the high costs even for those who have health insurance plans.

He gave compelling evidence that a national single payer health care system, an improved Medicare for All, would save money yet improve care for those who now have insurance and extend those benefits to the 3o million who have been left without coverage despite the gains of the Affordable Care Act.

The program can be seen on the Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care facebook page, thanks to medical student Sarah Parker.

https://www.facebook.com/KSPHmed4all/videos/2334827763293174/

On Thursday, October 24, 2019, economics Professor Gerald Friedman spoke on what Medicare for All would mean for physicians.  The Grand Rounds was sponsored by the University of Louisville Department of Medicine.  The program took place in the Ambulatory Care Building at University of Louisville Hospital.  A video is available here.

On Friday, October 25, 2019, Dr. Friedman addressed the  Grand Rounds of the University of Louisville Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine.   This event was at Jewish Hospital in Bottigheimer Auditorium.

At noon on October 24, 2019, Professor Gerald Friedman spoke at the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church on the topic “Medicare for All means health equity for all.”

Following a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Rev. Ron Robinson, Dr. Garrett Adams, and Bob Cunningham made opening remarks.

Professor Friedman gave a power point presentation and answered questions from the audience.  Friedman said that the nation must provide care to all through a single payer system that removes the profits of the insurance companies and ends co-pays and deductibles so that no one goes without care because of inability to pay.  He said that health care is a human right.

Cornelia Oldham made a video of the event and graciously shared it.  It can be viewed here.

The program was organized by Antonio Wickliffe, Bob Cunningham, and the Rev. Ron Robinson and sponsored by Kentuckians for Single Payer Health Care.  Refreshments were catered by Sweet Peaches.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke frequently at the West Chestnut Street Baptist Church which was deeply involved in the civil rights struggle in Louisville.

(Video of event here.)

On October 23, 2019, the University of Louisville Chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) sponsored an event that featured economics Professor Gerald Friedman speaking about what Medicare for All means for future physicians.

Students filled the auditorium, listened attentively, responded to Friedman’s humor, and asked intelligent questions.

An hour before the event, Deborah Yetter of the Courier Journal interviewed Dr. Friedman and the leaders of SNaHP.   The story appeared on the following day and can be read here.  Yetter also spoke briefly about the student program on Comment on Kentucky which can be viewed here.

Friedman, who has a doctorate in economics from Harvard and teaches at UMass Amherst, was introduced by SNaHP president, Sarah Riley Parker.