Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is “Heist” by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Many of the nation’s largest health insurance companies have made billions of dollars in profits by overbilling the U.S. government’s Medicare Advantage program. A New York Times investigation has revealed that under the Advantage program, health insurance companies are incentivized to make patients appear more ill than they actually are. Some estimates find it has cost the government between $12 billion and $25 billion in 2020 alone. We speak with former healthcare insurance executive Wendell Potter, now president of the Center for Health and Democracy, who says Medicare Advantage will be recognized in years to come as the “biggest transfer of wealth” from taxpayers to corporate shareholders, and blames the lack of regulation over the program on the “revolving door between private industry and government.”

Health Insurance Whistleblower: Medicare Advantage Is “Heist” by Private Firms to Defraud the Public

Related:

‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions (archived)

Peace Train: Silencing contrarian voices

In the U.S., we proudly point to the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights that was adopted in 1791.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Peace Train: Silencing contrarian voices

Related:

U.S. Wars and Hostile Actions (WW2 – 2014)

New U.K. PM Liz Truss Has “Extreme Neoliberal” Anti-Labor, Anti-Environment Record

The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party has voted for Liz Truss to become its new leader, replacing Boris Johnson and making her Britain’s next prime minister. Truss served as foreign secretary under Johnson and has a record of “extreme neoliberal policies,” says British journalist George Monbiot. These include supporting tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulating the fossil fuel industry and refusing to regulate agricultural pollution. Monbiot also warns Truss will undermine the country’s model public health system and labor rights for organizing workers.

New U.K. PM Liz Truss Has “Extreme Neoliberal” Anti-Labor, Anti-Environment Record

What do the New York Times, Kiev Independent, Euromaidan Press, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok All Have in Common?

By John Parker – August 22, 2022

They are all funded by or staffed by Western and U.S. intelligence members pushing the U.S. narrative about the war in Ukraine. This is why Struggle-La-Lucha.org organized a fact-finding mission to Ukraine and Russia to report on the suppressed information that challenges the narrative of NATO and its member states, led by the U.S.

This is the second part of my report. (See Part 1: Fact-finding trip to Donbas: A front-line shelter in Rubizhne)

What do the New York Times, Kiev Independent, Euromaidan Press, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok All Have in Common?

“These are animals, not people”: Zelensky frees convicted child rapists, torturers to reinforce depleted military

Photo presented during the trial of Tornado members shows a torture victim whose arm was etched with the shape of male genitals (translation via Yandex)

by Esha Krishnaswamy, The Grayzone, Jul 30 2022

Once condemned by Ukrainian officials and imprisoned for sadistic torture and the rape of minors, leaders of the notorious Tornado Battalion are free under Volodymyr Zelensky’s orders.

“These are animals, not people”: Zelensky frees convicted child rapists, torturers to reinforce depleted military

Related:

Rape, Torture, Robbery: Victim Testimonies Against Ukrainian Tornado Battalion (ENG SUBS)

Kiev Court Sentenced 8 “Tornado” Battalion Members to Long Prison Terms

Did the jihadist who was killed near Aleppo serve in the Ukrainian police?

Baby Formula Crisis Requires Urgent Action to Address Shortage of Vital Nutrition & Price Gouging

Four corporations control 90% of the baby formula market in the United States, and as a national baby formula shortage drags on, it has impacted working-class families of color the most. We get an update from Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna of California, who just wrote an open letter urging leaders of federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration to take bolder action to address the shortage. Khanna discusses efforts to increase production domestically and supplement the shortage with formula from other nations, and why he is calling for President Biden to go further and pass antitrust laws to reduce reliance on corporate monopolies for vital products. “Why is it that we are so dependent on one or two manufacturers in this country?” says Khanna. “This is a problem not just in baby formula.”

Baby Formula Crisis Requires Urgent Action to Address Shortage of Vital Nutrition & Price Gouging