Whistleblower Wendell Potter reveals how Medicare Advantage denies care, inflates costs, and enriches Wall Street while draining the Medicare trust fund.
Wendell Potter: The Medicare Advantage Scam
Watch Politics Done Right T.V. here.
Summary
Wendell Potter exposes the deep structural corruption inside Medicare Advantage and shows why the program has become a profit-extraction machine for Wall Street rather than a safeguard for seniors. In this conversation, longtime health-insurance executive turned whistleblower Wendell Potter details how Medicare Advantage represents one of the most lucrative corporate scams in modern healthcare. He explains that traditional Medicare was created because private insurers refused to cover seniors, and he outlines how for-profit insurers later rebuilt a system of exclusion, denial, and profiteering under the banner of “Medicare Advantage.” Potter describes how Wall Street investors—not patients—dictate insurer behavior, pushing companies to deny care, narrow networks, and exploit risk-scoring schemes that drain tens of billions annually from the Medicare trust fund. He warns that Medicare Advantage is a replacement, not an enhancement, and urges Americans to reclaim the public program they already paid for and expand it to everyone.
Medicare was created because private insurers refused to cover seniors, leaving millions uninsured.
Traditional Medicare provides broad access, minimal denials, and almost universal provider acceptance; Medicare Advantage imitates private insurance with denials and narrow networks.
Wall Street investors dictate insurer behavior, rewarding companies that deny care and raise out-of-pocket costs.
Insurers inflate “risk scores,” resulting in $84–$140 billion in overpayments each year that weaken the Medicare trust fund.
Potter calls for national leaders willing to challenge the insurance lobby and expand Medicare to everyone as a public system free from corporate extraction.
This discussion underscores a truth progressives have warned about for decades: when healthcare becomes a profit center, people become revenue streams. Medicare Advantage proves that Wall Street’s dream is America’s nightmare. Expanding and improving traditional Medicare—public, universal, accountable—is not only fiscally sound, but it is also morally necessary.
The complete article is here on my Substack.
Viewers are encouraged to subscribe and join the conversation for more insightful commentary and to support progressive messages. Together, we can populate the internet with progressive messages that represent the true aspirations of most Americans.