Care Denied: The Dirty Secret Behind Medicare Advantage
Jenn Coffey was so tired of having her care denied by her Medicare Advantage insurer that she signed a do-not-resuscitate order. “There was no more hope,” she said. “There was nothing left for me to hope for.”
Coffey, a former EMT from Manchester, New Hampshire, went on Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors and others with disabilities, after a breast cancer diagnosis left her unable to work. Like an increasing number of Medicare beneficiaries, she ended up on a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan; a marketer directed her to an option administered by UnitedHealth Group, a $450 billion insurer.