Whereas, a new program started under the Trump administration introduced a way for beneficiaries in Traditional Medicare to be moved without their consent into a for-profit insurance model using the program now known as ACO/Reach (Accountable Care Organization/Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health), and 

Whereas, at the present time there is no Congressional oversight of this program, and

Whereas, despite an endless barrage of deceptive advertising, the majority of those eligible for Medicare have chosen Traditional Medicare over for-profit insurance offered as Medicare Advantage (MA), and 

Whereas, ACO-REACH programs (formerly known as direct contracting entities (DCEs) are allowed to keep 25-40% of their revenue that they don’t spend on healthcare services as profit and overhead; thereby, giving them a dangerous financial incentive to restrict care of seniors and the disabled, and 

Whereas, Medicare pays ACO-REACH programs more money for patients with more complex diagnoses; therefore, ACO-REACH programs, like Medicare Advantage, have a strong incentive to engage in a fraudulent practice known as “upcoding,” i.e., exaggerating the severity of seniors’ diagnoses, resulting in higher costs to Medicare than Traditional Medicare, and

Whereas, the fundamental difference between for-profit health insurance and Traditional Medicare is that for-profit insurance limits care to provide maximum profit for its shareholders through narrow networks and denial of care, and 

Whereas, Traditional Medicare limits that risk to the patient by not requiring pre-approval for treatment and offering a complete choice of doctors and hospitals, and 

Whereas, the Congressional Budget Office has projected insolvency of the Medicare Hospital Trust in 2026 which provides care for 52.6 million seniors; therefore, be it 

Resolved, that the Democrats of Nevada County demand that Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and President Biden terminate the ACO-REACH program, and

Resolved, that the Nevada County DCC ask the CA DCC to oppose Medicare privatization and work toward ending the ACO/REACH program.