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Trump’s DOJ Accuses Medicare Advantage Insurers of Paying ‘Kickbacks’ for Primo Customers - KFF Health News

KFF Health News
Summary
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84% Informative

Aetna , Humana , Elevance Health, and Humana accused of paying brokers kickbacks to steer Medicare enrollees into private-sector plans.

Medicare Advantage plans cover more than half of enrollees enrolled in Medicare .

The DOJ lawsuit is likely to add to the debate over the role of the private sector in Medicare with vivid details often drawn from internal emails.

Lawsuit alleges people with disabilities had their calls ignored or rerouted by systems designed to weed out disabled people.

Insurance companies are allowed to offer commissions to brokers for Medicare Advantage plans.

Congress and regulators set maximum commissions and limited payments for other things, such as administrative costs, to fair market value.

VR Score

86

Informative language

86

Neutral language

35

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

67

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

16

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/?allid=ggl328864000&callSchedule=mon-sun(3-23)&accountid=6509828329&accounttype=GOOGLE&campaign=GGL-SEM-MED-Con-MasterBrand-Brand-TXT-All&campaignid=20556528902&adgroupid=158786533812&matchtype=e&extensionid=&targetid=kwd-11664351&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn_Kb4qKMjQMV98zCBB2kDRUWEAAYASAAEgL2rvD_BwE&keyword=ehealth&creative=715574992001&placement=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD4IUaPMZ1aTYdUHpcRzqisf40Ngrhttps://medicareadvocacy.org/center-for-medicare-advocacy-leadership-change-announcement/https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/new-rule-protect-medicare-beneficiaries-against-inappropriate-sales-tactics-stuck-courtshttps://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/extra-benefits-offered-by-medicare-advantage-firms-varies/https://www.kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/nearly-50-million-prior-authorization-requests-were-sent-to-medicare-advantage-insurers-in-2023/https://schaeffer.usc.edu/research/medicare-advantage-costs-taxpayers-22-more-per-enrollee-heres-how-payment-reform-could-help-close-the-gap/https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txndce/4:2024cv00439/389767/40/https://www.shiphelp.org/https://blog.actionbenefits.com/cms-updates-medicare-advantage-commissions-2025-againhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1398796/dlhttps://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/agent-commissions-medicare-and-impact-beneficiary-choicehttps://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2023/feb/challenges-choosing-medicare-coverage-views-insurance-brokers-agents#:~:text=For%20help%20in%20making%20these,in%20the%20advice%20they%20give.http://fortune.com/https://www.gohealth.com/blog/gohealth-statement-fca/https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/experts/zachary-l-baron/https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/pushing_medicare_advantage_on_seniors_unraveling_the_complex_network_of_marketing_middlemen_-_32425docx.pdf

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