Austin AFL-CIO Council Becomes Latest to Urge Biden to End Medicare Privatization Scheme

The labor council's newly passed resolution warns that the scheme "allows doctors and their offices to convert a patients' traditional Medicare choice into ACO-REACH coverage without first informing their patients."
The labor council of the Austin, Texas AFL-CIO has passed a resolution urging the Biden administration to terminate a Medicare privatization scheme that is quietly moving ahead despite vocal opposition from doctors, seniors, and progressive lawmakers.

The pilot program, which inserts private middlemen between patients and healthcare providers, was unveiled with little notice during the final months of the Trump administration despite internal concerns about its legality. The experiment has since been largely upheld by the Biden administration, which announced mostly cosmetic changes earlier this year, winning applause from industry groups that lobbied against complete elimination of the program.

"Immediately stop and dismantle the ACO-REACH program, and instead, immediately protect and preserve traditional Medicare.

Now known as ACO REACH, the pilot involves shifting traditional Medicare recipients onto privately run insurance plans without their knowledge or consent in the name of cutting costs and improving quality.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/21/austin-afl-cio-council-becomes-latest-urge-biden-end-medicare-privatization-scheme