#xavier becerra

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Xavier Becerra

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A national physician group this week called for the complete termination of a Medicare privatization scheme that the Biden White House inherited from the Trump administration and later rebranded—while keeping intact its most dangerous components.

Now known as the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model, the experiment inserts a for-profit entity between traditional Medicare beneficiaries and healthcare providers. The federal government pays the ACO REACH middlemen to cover patients' care while allowing them to pocket a significant chunk of the fee as profit.

The rebranded pilot program, which was launched without congressional approval and is set to run through at least 2026, officially began this month, and progressive healthcare advocates fear the experiment could be allowed to engulf traditional Medicare.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) argued that ACO REACH "presents a threat to the integrity of traditional Medicare, and an opportunity for corporations to take money from taxpayers while denying care to beneficiaries."

The group, which advocates for a single-payer healthcare system, voiced alarm over the Biden administration's decision to let companies with records of fraud and other abuses take part in the ACO REACH pilot, which automatically assigns traditional Medicare patients to private entities without their consent.

CMS said in a press release Tuesday that "the ACO REACH Model has 132 ACOs with 131,772 healthcare providers and organizations providing care to an estimated 2.1 million beneficiaries" for 2023.

"As we have stated, PNHP believes that the REACH program threatens the integrity of traditional Medicare and should be permanently ended," Dr. Philip Verhoef, the physician group's president, wrote in the new letter. "Whether or not one agrees with this statement, we should all be able to agree that companies found to have violated the rules have no place managing the care of our Medicare beneficiaries."

Among the concerning examples PNHP cited was Clover Health, which has operated so-called Direct Contracting Entities (DCEs)—the name of private middlemen under the Trump-era version of the Medicare pilot—in more than a dozen states, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and New York.

PNHP noted that in 2016, CMS fined Clover—a large Medicare Advantage provider—for "using 'marketing and advertising materials that contained inaccurate statements' about coverage for out-of-network providers, after a high volume of complaints from patients who were denied coverage by its MA plan. Clover had failed to correct the materials after repeated requests by CMS."

Humana, another large insurer with its teeth in the Medicare privatization pilot, "improperly collected almost $200 million from Medicare by overstating the sickness of patients," PNHP observed, citing a recent federal audit.

"It appears that in its selection process [for ACO REACH], CMS did not prevent the inclusion of companies with histories of such behavior," Verhoef wrote. "Given these findings, we are concerned that CMS is inappropriately allowing these DCEs to continue unimpeded into ACO REACH in 2023."

While the Medicare pilot garnered little attention from lawmakers when the Trump administration first launched it during its final months in power, progressive members of Congress have recently ramped up scrutiny of the program.

Last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led a group of lawmakers in warning that ACO REACH "provides an opportunity for healthcare insurers with a history of defrauding and abusing Medicare and ripping off taxpayers to further encroach on the Medicare system."

"We have long been concerned about ensuring this model does not give corporate profiteers yet another opportunity to take a chunk out of traditional Medicare," the lawmakers wrote, echoing PNHP's concerns. "The continued participation of corporate actors with a history of fraud and abuse threatens the integrity of the program."

[bighermie]

......... and sex trafficked to Pedo Joe’s buddies.

[thenewdemocratus]

The Hill: Report: Mike Lillis: Time For House Democrats to Elect New Leaders?

Source:The New Democrat  Nancy Pelosi has been the leader of the House Democrats for the last twelve years. Eight of them after this Congress as Minority Leader and of course four of them as the first female Speaker of the House from 2007-11. She was also the first Minority Leader in Congress, House or Senate and the first party leader in Congress House or Senate as well. She’s been a very…

[maryannmccarra-fitzpatrick]

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Xavier Becerra

[prcg]

Jefe de salud de Biden acusado de hacer campaña a favor de Harris en servicio

Con la administración Biden-Harris dirigiendo el gobierno federal como una extensión del Comité Nacional Demócrata, no sorprende que el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos haya lanzado lo que equivale a un anuncio político pro-Kamala Harris a potencialmente decenas de millones de beneficiarios de Medicare. ahora un queja está instando a la Oficina del Asesor Especial a investigar si…

[cantsayidont]

I WAS glad when Biden made Harris his running mate in 2020, not because I like her, but because I had been very concerned that otherwise she might end up as U.S. attorney general, where she would have been in a position to do vastly more damage than she has been as VP.

[covid-safer-hotties]

U.S. to resume mandatory reporting of COVID hospitalizations - Published Sept 6, 2024

Hospitals in the United States will soon be required to report hospital admissions related to COVID-19, restoring a mandate which was lifted earlier this year, according to federal officials. The new rules are due to take effect on November 1.

Hospital data about COVID-19 was often cited as an alternative when many states stopped releasing COVID-related data, including case counts. But those reports became voluntary on May 1, with only 33% of hospitals choosing to participate.

Beginning November 1, hospitals will once again be required to report COVID-19 data, as well as information about influenza and RSV, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health.

“The information required to report includes confirmed infections of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, influenza, and RSV, among hospitalized patients; hospital bed census and capacity; and limited patient demographic information, including age,” a CMS spokesperson told BNO News.

CMS is proposing updates on a weekly basis, though the final decision about the exact frequency is up to the Secretary of Health, Xavier Becerra. His office did not immediately respond when asked about the frequency of updates.

The U.S. is currently in the midst of a summer wave with nearly 178,000 COVID cases reported last week alone, along with more than 1,000 new deaths. Data from the 33% of hospitals participating in the voluntary survey showed 5,357 Americans in hospital with COVID-19. The actual number is believed to be higher.

So far this year, more than 4.9 million COVID cases have been reported across the U.S., causing at least 348,034 hospitalizations (limited data from May 1) and 38,563 deaths, according to BNO’s COVID data tracker. bnonews.com/index.php/tag/weekly-u-s-covid-update/?swcfpc=1

[maryannmccarra-fitzpatrick]

[iww-gnv]

A troubling trend is brewing underneath America's strong employment market: more children are working in dangerous jobs, violating the nation's labor laws and putting their lives at risk.  In the last 10 months, federal regulators have found almost 4,500 children working in violation of federal child labor laws, an increase of 44% from a year earlier, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Some of the children were operating dangerous machinery, such as deep fryers and meat-processing equipment, the agency noted.  The surge in cases of illegal child labor come as some states are weakening their child labor laws, while some lawmakers have also pointed to an influx of unaccompanied minors crossing into the U.S. as an underlying cause. On Wednesday, a congressional hearing focused on the hundreds of thousands of children who have entered the U.S. alone since 2021, with some lawmakers questioning Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra about their safety.  "Earlier this year, news reports detailed cases of unaccompanied minors working in harsh conditions in plants and factories," Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, said at the hearing. "The reports were shocking and deeply disturbing." Almost 400,000 children have entered the U.S. alone since 2021, according to government data. The numbers have spiked in 2021, 2022 and 2023 compared with 2020, the data shows. A New York Times investigation published earlier this year found that the use of child migrant labor in factories across the U.S. has "exploded" since 2021, and concluded that "the systems meant to protect children have broken down."

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Xavier Becerra