Straight Up Fraud': Data Confirms Private Insurers Use Medicare Advantage to Steal Billions

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. Almost all hospitals are for profit anymore.

I can recall, back in the 1960s, when the very thought of a for-profit hospital was anathema. I'm not sure exactly how or why that changed, but it did. Medicare Advantage plans have almost nothing to do with that change.

I have an Advantage plan myself, and I honestly don't get why they are trashed. Mine has been very good to me.

I'm reminded of how people here almost universally trash annuities. They are not all terrible. I happen to have two, which I'm currently collecting from, and they have been very good to me. I will continue to get my current payout, no matter what happens to the base value. One of them has also gone up a tiny bit since I first started collecting, because its highest daily average increased over what it was when I started collecting. And any residual value left when I die will go to the beneficiary. So what's the problem with annuities?

Same with Advantage plans. I had a heart attack nearly two years ago, and out of an $80,000 hospital bill, I paid less than $1,000. That's a whole lot less than the 20% I'd have been responsible for with basic Medicare. So what exactly is the problem here?