How private insurers made billions off Medicare Advantage

Diane Rehm: On My Mind

For the last year The Wall Street Journal has been investigating the Medicare Advantage program. It was originally created to make healthcare for seniors and the disabled more efficient. The idea was to outsource insurance to private companies to save taxpayer dollars -- and avoid providers gaming the system as they had in the traditional Medicare program.

“Some of those good intentions did not foresee how companies would respond to the financial incentives that had been created,” says Christopher Weaver, one of the Journal reporters who looked at the issue. He says companies have bilked the system for billions of dollars using tactics like over diagnosing patients.

Christopher Weaver joins Diane on this episode of On My Mind to share the results of his investigation – and discuss the future of the Medicare Advantage program.

For more on The Wall Street Journal's series on the Medicare Advantage program: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/christopher-weaver