[ZeroHedge] Private insurers are padding their pockets with billions in alleged overpayments from Medicare Advantage, and hardworking American seniors are footing the bill through higher Part B premiums, according to a congressional report obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
The report, issued by the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee, shows that controversial practices, such as adding extra diagnoses to trigger larger government reimbursements, drove up Medicare Part B premiums by $13.4 billion in 2025 alone.
That amounts to roughly 10% higher costs, or more than $200 extra annually, for the average senior on a fixed Social Security income. The impact extends beyond enrollees in Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare beneficiaries are also paying higher premiums to help subsidize the private plans' gains.
Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), who chairs the committee, said in a statement to the Journal, "Extra spending on Medicare Advantage is not just coming out of the federal government’s budget, a portion of this comes out of you.”
The Journal reports:
Medicare Advantage, which has long enjoyed support from Republicans, has faced growing bipartisan scrutiny. Among the biggest players in the business are UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Elevance Health.
Lawmakers and government investigators have been probing how insurers’ billing practices have contributed to Medicare Advantage costs. A congressional watchdog found Medicare Advantage costs the federal government more than traditional Medicare, partly because of insurers’ billing practices. The insurers are paid more to cover enrollees who have more health conditions, and they can boost their reimbursement by recording more diagnoses.
Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits, lab tests, and outpatient services, had standard premiums around $185 per month in 2025, deducted directly from Social Security checks. Due to these alleged overpayments, however, everyone pays more for the same benefits.
Speaking to the Journal on Friday, Medicare agency administrator Mehmet Oz said that while he doesn’t believe Medicare Advantage insurers are as overpaid as has been reported, he did concede that, “we should change the rules.”
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/11/2026 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Curiously, every social security rate increase in recent years has been almost exactly offset by the medicare premium deduction - surely coincidental eh!
[Breitbart] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr discussed fraud in the federal Lifeline subsidy program during a Breitbart News policy discussion Tuesday, citing a report from the FCC’s inspector general that found more than 94,000 dead people signed up for benefits in California.
[Reuters] Although the source said the intrusion appeared to have been carried out by a cybercriminal rather than a foreign government, the incident underscores the files' potential intelligence value, one academic said.
The legally mandated publication of U.S. Justice Department documents has exposed the dead financier's ties to prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business, triggering investigations in numerous countries around the world.
“Who wouldn’t be going after the Epstein files if you’re the Russians or somebody interested in kompromat?” said Jon Lindsay, who researches the role of emerging technology in global security at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “If foreign intelligence agencies are not thinking seriously about the Epstein files as a target, then I would be shocked.”
[The Hill] President Trump will venture to northern Kentucky on Wednesday in a forceful effort to topple a sitting Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), who has emerged as the president’s most vocal GOP antagonist in the Capitol.
Trump is scheduled to visit a packaging plant in Hebron in Massie’s 4th Congressional District, where the president has endorsed Massie’s primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL officer who’s vowing to stick by Trump and "deliver America First results for Kentucky."
The visit comes amid the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran, which are shaping up to be a potent issue in the race after Massie voted last week in opposition to Trump’s unilateral strikes — a lonely position in a GOP conference where only one other Republican crossed the aisle to demand that Trump get congressional approval to continue the operations.
The Kentucky primary, slated for May 19, is being closely watched as a gauge of Trump’s continued grip on the GOP at a time when he’s facing low approval ratings, a tough midterm cycle when he’s not on the ballot, and internal accusations that he’s abandoned the "America First" pledge that swept him back into office.
Massie, perhaps more than any other Republican in Congress, has been forceful in airing those criticisms. And he’s not letting up just because the primary is getting closer.
#4
We got another Jew-hater here.
AIPAC is made of Americans. Americans can donate their money to support whatever causes they want.
I'll donate money to give you a one-way ticket to your buddies in Iran. You'll find many like-minded people there.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] David Rivera, who rose through the ranks of Florida politics alongside Marco Rubio, is set to face a judge in a case that has officially named the Secretary of State as a witness, Vanity Fair reports.
The two men share a long history in the Sunshine State - during their early political careers, they were so close that they famously bought a home together in Tallahassee.
Rivera has been a persistent headache for Rubio over the years, but as the explosive trial draws closer, the controversy surrounding his former housemate now threatens to spill into the Trump White House.
For years, Rivera was one of South Florida's most aggressive anti-Castro firebrands, building a career on fierce rhetoric against leftist regimes - until a $50 million contract with the US subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company came to light.
The man who made his name attacking socialist dictatorships had, it appears, been allegedly simultaneously profiting from one.
#1
Few people file the FARA.
John Bolton has these pics of him in Qatar.
Rivera is just doing what everyone else does.
Except - it's Cuba.
IDK, all the pigs at the trough equally disgust me.
[FoxBusinessNews] A federal appeals court on Monday officially finalized the termination of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, the Biden program that significantly lowered repayment rates for millions of student loan borrowers.
The judgment, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, reverses a lower court’s February dismissal of a Republican-led legal challenge against the SAVE plan. That ruling was issued by Judge John Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Originally introduced in 2023 under former President Joe Biden, the SAVE plan was hailed as the "most affordable repayment plan ever created" for federal student loan borrowers. The program was the first and only plan in history that prevented the balance from ever growing by subsidizing 100% of all unpaid monthly interest.
More than 7 million student loan borrowers reportedly remain enrolled in the SAVE plan as of the fourth quarter.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
