July 30th, 2022

Medicare birthday rally will bring attention
​to efforts to privatize the federal program

A rally to celebrate the 57th birthday of Medicare and bring attention to efforts to privatize the federal program will start at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 30, at the Linn County Courthouse, 300 Fourth Ave. S.W.
Medicare was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965. The federal health insurance program is for people 65 and older, certain younger people with disabilities and people with End-stage Renal Disease.
“Powerful investor groups are privatizing Medicare through the little-known program REACH (formerly Medicare Direct Contracting),” said Rick Staggenborg, Linn County Democrat and the Linn County chair of Health Care for All Oregon.  “Unchecked, this will replace traditional Medicare with a system run like private insurance. As with private insurance, this is decreasing provider choice, increasing co-pays and deductibles, and causing inappropriate denial of care.” 
In addition to these costs to beneficiaries, the change is coming at a huge cost to taxpayers. Under REACH, contractors are allowed to keep up to 40 percent of all monies they receive to pay provider bills. Traditional Medicare covers these bills with only a 2% overhead. Over half of the entities that have applied to become contractors are investor-owned, including private equity funds that make no pretense of being in it to improve medical care, Staggenborg said.
The rally  is cosponsored by the Linn County chapter of Health Care for All Oregon, the Health Care Justice Ministry of Albany First Christian Church, and Mid Valley Health Care Associates.
​For more about REACH, click here

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