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ady barkan
Ady Barkan’s Legacy: Reclaiming Medicare From For-Profit Corporations
Ady recognized that so-called “Medicare Advantage” plans threaten our cherished public benefit.
Mar 28, 2024
Ady Barkan, my dear friend and former colleague, spent the last years of his life fighting to give everyone in America the right to high-quality healthcare. He knew that he was dying, and used his own story to shine a light on why “the richest country in the history of the world” could figure out how to provide it. He evangelized the virtues of Medicare For All, yet came to understand that a powerful force stood in the way: So-called “Medicare Advantage” (MA) plans. These plans are not Medicare. They are privatized alternatives run by for-profit insurance corporations.
As Ady wrote a little over a year ago, these privatized plans threaten our cherished public benefit of Medicare. They siphon up our public dollars, overcharging the government to the tune of billions a year. Then, they delay and deny the care the patients need. Their goal is to generate profit by charging as much as possible to provide as little healthcare as possible.
The government allows privatized plans to offer benefits Traditional Medicare is barred from covering, including dental, vision, hearing, and an out-of-pocket cap. This makes them an attractive option, particularly to younger and healthier patients. It is only once people get sick, and need to use their coverage, they realize these plans are a scam.
The government needs to hold these plans accountable for their greed, not give them a raise.
With Traditional Medicare, you can use the doctor and hospital of your choice, and they provide the care that you need. Medicare Advantage restricts your choice of doctors and hospitals, as well as what type of care they can provide. These might seem like minor nuisances when you’re relatively healthy, but can mean the difference between life and death when you’re sick.
That’s not an exaggeration. A recent study found that Medicare Advantage patients are 1.5 times more likely to die in the month after complex cancer surgery than Traditional Medicare patients. Another study found that if the government canceled contracts with the worst performing 5% of MA plans, it would save 10,000 lives a year.
Yet despite Medicare Advantage plans providing worse care than Traditional Medicare, they cost the government more money—an average of 6% per patient—despite the fact that Medicare Advantage patients are generally younger and healthier than those with Traditional Medicare. They are overcharging the government by up to $140 billion a year. This is money that comes out of the Medicare trust fund, endangering the future of the entire program. Yet it still isn’t enough for health insurance corporations offering these plans.
The government is proposing a 3.7% increase in payments to Medicare Advantage plans for next year. They plan to finalize that amount at the beginning of April. The health insurance corporations and their lobbyists are pressuring the government to increase that amount. They are even insisting that a 3.7% increase is a cut, just because it’s not as much as they want!
This is outrageous. The government needs to hold these plans accountable for their greed, not give them a raise. Over 25,000 Americans are calling on President Joe Biden to do just that. As their petition says, these plans should be paying us back, not the other way around.
Be A Hero, the organization Ady founded, is one of the organizations at the forefront of this fight. Hundreds of our grassroots supporters have shared their painful stories of being delayed or denied care by faceless, cruel insurance companies. Others reveal feeling tricked or even forced onto a Medicare Advantage plan and then being stuck in the “Hotel California.” Their heartbreaking stories called Ady and now call all of us to take action.
We are joined by doctors, patients and experts from across the country who see the existential threat posed to Medicare by insurance corporations. Reclaiming Medicare from corporate greed is an essential part of Ady’s legacy. It is the only way we can move towards Ady’s vision of Medicare for All—guaranteed high-quality healthcare for everyone.
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'The Progressive Movement Has Lost a Hero': Ady Barkan, Medicare for All Champion, Dies at 39
"There are no words to capture Ady Barkan's brilliance, moral clarity, and immense capacity to imagine and fight for a new world."
Nov 02, 2023
Ady Barkan, a powerful moral force in the fight for a just healthcare system, died at the age of 39 on Wednesday from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS.
Following his terminal diagnosis in 2016—just months after the birth of his son, Carl—Barkan campaigned tirelessly for Medicare for All and other progressive causes, frequently taking part in Capitol Hill protests, congressional hearings, and conversations with prominent political figures even as he lost the ability to stand, walk, and speak on his own.
In 2020, Barkan delivered an address to the Democratic National Convention using a voice-generating device attached to his wheelchair.
"Like so many of you, I have experienced the ways our healthcare system is fundamentally broken. Enormous costs, denied claims, dehumanizing treatment when we are most in need," Barkan said. "Since my shocking diagnosis, I have traveled the country meeting countless patients like me, demanding more of our representatives and our democracy."
Barkan's death was announced Wednesday by his wife, Rachael.
"You probably knew Ady as a healthcare activist," she wrote. "But more importantly he was a wonderful dad and my life partner for 18 years."
Be a Hero—an advocacy organization that Barkan co-founded in 2018, the year before the birth of his daughter, Willow—said in a statement that Ady "inspired many of us to join the fight for universal access to life-saving and life-giving healthcare."
"Ady was a life-long activist and movement lawyer," said Jamila Headley, the group's co-executive director. "Before he co-founded Be a Hero in 2018, Ady spent years fighting to advance worker rights and economic justice at social justice organizations, including Make the Road New York and the Center for Popular Democracy, where he co-founded the Fed Up Campaign and Local Progress."
"Up until his death," Headley continued, "Ady spent his days working with the Be a Hero team of staff and volunteers to stop health insurance corporations from gouging Medicare and denying patients care, and fighting to make it possible for people with disabilities and older adults who need home and community-based services to get the care they need surrounded by the people they love."
News of Barkan's passing was met with an outpouring of tributes from those who worked alongside him for healthcare and economic justice.
"There are no words to capture Ady Barkan's brilliance, moral clarity, and immense capacity to imagine and fight for a new world," progressive activist Ana Maria Archila wrote on social media. "My dear friend, rest in power. Forever and always, your voice will guide us."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and one of the lead sponsors of Medicare for All legislation in the House, said in a statement late Wednesday that "the progressive movement has lost a hero tonight."
"Ady Barkan accomplished more in his too-short time here than most do many lifetimes over. This country, and the lives of all of us who knew and loved him, are better for it," said Jayapal, whose Medicare for All bill now has the support of more than half of the House Democratic caucus. "I am devastated to lose a champion, a partner, and a friend. My Progressive Caucus colleagues and I are with all those mourning Ady tonight, and we send our deepest condolences to Rachael, Carl, and Willow."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate's top Medicare for All proponent, wrote on social media that "Ady Barkan was an inspiration to all of us."
"There are very few people in this country who have done more to make healthcare a human right," Sanders added. "To honor his life, let us dedicate ourselves to completing his work."
A previous version of this story misspelled Jamila Headley's last name in the second mention.
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Congressional Dems, Activists 'Raise the Alarm' About Medicare Advantage 'Scam'
"It is time to call out so-called Medicare Advantage for what it is," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro. "It's private insurance that profits by denying coverage and using the name of Medicare to trick our seniors."
Jul 25, 2023
Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday joined senior citizens, people with disabilities, and healthcare campaigners at a Capitol Hill press conference to kick off a week of action demanding Congress move to stop abuses by so-called Medicare Advantage programs peddled by profiteering insurance companies and "reclaim Medicare."
"We are here to raise the alarm about Medicare Advantage. We are here to protect our Medicare," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said to robust applause.
"This year, for the very first time, more than half of all beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage instead of traditional Medicare," she continued. "But Medicare Advantage substitutes private insurance companies for traditional Medicare coverage, and that private coverage is failing both Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers."
"Not only do Medicare Advantage insurers rip off the government, they routinely deny care to patients who need it."
"It's all about the money," Warren said. "Private insurers are in Medicare Advantage to play games to extract more money from the government."
"Experts estimate that Medicare Advantage insurers will receive more than $75 billion in overpayments this year alone, and that's the real punch to the gut," she continued. "Not only do Medicare Advantage insurers rip off the government, they routinely deny care to patients who need it."
"Seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare deserve better," the senator affirmed. "We can strengthen traditional Medicare, and by doing that, we can save money and we can use some of those savings to expand benefits, like hearing, dental, and vision... and add an out-of-pocket cap for all beneficiaries... and lower the eligibility age for Medicare."
"Medicare money should be spent to deliver services for people," Warren added, "not to boost profits for insurance."
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said that "it is time to call out so-called Medicare Advantage for what it is. It's private insurance that profits by denying coverage and using the name of Medicare to trick our seniors."
Universal healthcare activist Ady Barkan, who founded the advocacy group Be a Hero—an event sponsor—asserted that "healthcare is a human right, and Medicare should be a rock-solid guarantee to that fundamental right."
"It should be a beacon of mutual responsibility and solidarity in the wake of 50 years of neoliberal ideology—a pillar of love, standing tall in a world too often dominated by greed," he added. "Health insurance corporations are doing everything they can to destroy this vision. That's why Be A Hero is leading this week of action to fight back."
Like the lawmakers, Alex Lawson, executive director of the advocacy group Social Security Works, blasted "bad actors in Medicare Advantage" who he said "are delaying and denying the care seniors and people with disabilities need."
"Corporate insurance is designed to generate profits by delaying and denying care, harming and killing patients instead of providing care," Lawson added.
Among the patients who spoke at Tuesday's event were Jen Coffey, who described to the barriers she's faced while seeking lifesaving care for complex regional pain syndrome caused by breast cancer under a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan.
"I'm tired of talking to insurance employees who get to override the care and medications my doctors order while having not one shred of medical knowledge to make that decision with," she said. "I want medical freedom where my care decisions are made by my providers and me, not a representative reading out of a manual or a computer algorithm."
Wendell Potter, who heads the Center for Health and Democracy, repeated the common refrain that "so-called Medicare Advantage is neither Medicare nor an advantage. It is simply another scheme by the insurance companies to line their pockets at the expense of consumers by denying and delaying care."
"The healthcare market is confusing for consumers and the misleading branding of calling private insurance Medicare only makes this worse," Potter stressed.
Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, a registered nurse and president of the National Nurses United union, implored Congress "to take immediate action to prevent delays and denials of care in Medicare Advantage" and "support improvements to traditional Medicare and the expansion of traditional Medicare to cover every person living in the United States."
Earlier this year, Democratic U.S. Reps Mark Pocan (Wis.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), and Ro Khanna (Calif.) reintroduced legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from using the word "Medicare" in their health plans.
Progressive lawmakers have also criticized President Joe Biden for delaying promised curbs on Medicare Advantage plans amid heavy insurance industry lobbying.
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