January 3, 2023 Dear colleague, It’s official: The Medicare Direct Contracting program has now ended…only to be replaced by ACO REACH. As we all know, this change is purely cosmetic. At its core, both REACH and Direct Contracting are convenient names for the infiltration of Traditional Medicare by Wall Street investors and other third-party entities. In the new program, as in the old, these parties will be administering benefits for seniors and adults with disabilities, often without their knowledge or consent. Between the official start of REACH and the continued growth of Medicare Advantage (MA), our movement is at a crucial crossroads. If we hope to one day achieve single payer, then we need to do everything we can now to prevent the private takeover of our most cherished public health program. That is why now that REACH has begun, we’re encouraging everybody to take action in defense of Traditional Medicare. Here are some resources to help you get started: |
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REACH Toolkit - Take action today!
- Learn more about the program at ProtectMedicare.net. Be sure to share this resource with your colleagues, family members, and anybody who cares about the future of Medicare!
- Sign our petition urging the Biden Administration to stop REACH
- Write an op-ed or letter to the editor of your local newspaper warning that REACH is now live, and that it must be stopped
- Post on social media about REACH using hashtags like #StopREACH and #SaveMedicare. Try to incorporate one or a few of the talking points below, and link to our ProtectMedicare.net website for more information
- Call your member of Congress at (202) 224-3121 and demand an end to REACH. The current session of Congress starts today—let your rep. know that stopping REACH should be an urgent priority! Feel free to use our script for guidance.
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Consider using the following talking points when communicating about this complicated issue:
- REACH represents the takeover of Traditional Medicare by private actors, often without the knowledge or consent of beneficiaries
- The REACH program’s payment structure gives third-party middlemen the opportunity to rake in cash by steering patients away from expensive, but medically necessary, care
- If someone wants to opt out of REACH, they can only do so by switching their primary care doctor, restricting patient choice
- So long as we allow profit-seekers to control our health, they will deny us care, stick us with exorbitant costs, and keep the lion’s share for themselves. The only true solution to our country’s health care problem is Medicare for All, but if we allow corporations to take over Medicare, we will never see it achieved.
Now that REACH is live, we must work diligently to organize those who are caught up in its web. In addition to calling Congress and writing op-eds, consider using this toolkit as a basis for a presentation to colleagues, community members, or local organizations. Any way we can get the message out will help move our cause forward. At this crucial juncture, we must make our voices heard and stop the capture of Medicare by corporate profiteers. We can only do this if we all speak up, and speak as one. In solidarity, |
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Phil Verhoef, M.D., Ph.D., President |
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