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You qualify for Medicare, you might actually be covered by a private insurer.
Here's how that works.
Medicare Advantage is the US government's way of offering Americans who are 65 and older more options when it comes to health insurance.
People who opt into the program are covered by private insurers like UnitedHealth Group.
Those insurers get a monthly payment from the government to provide coverage for the people enrolled in their plans.
Today, more than half of the people enrolled in Medicare use a private Medicare Advantage plan.
But last week,
a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg news
that the U.S. justice Department has a civil investigation into Medicare billing practices at UnitedHealth Group,
one of those participating private insurers.
The question at the center of that.
Investigation, which was first reported by the.
Wall Street Journal, is are insurers working the system to get higher payments from the government?
Companies invest a tremendous amount of time, effort, money,
resources into documenting the illnesses that their members have
because it means money coming in the door,
right?
That's Bloomberg Healthcare reporter John Tazi.
But the issue that has emerged is there's some ambiguity in the rules and in litigation in cases whistleblowers have brought to light.