The Biden administration is quietly continuing a little-known Trump-era pilot program that clears the way for doctors and private health insurers to switch patients from Medicare to privately run insurance. Though there has been little public discussion of the program, it has the potential to expand to the wholesale privatization of Medicare.

Despite calls to shut down the pilot project, the Biden administration has no plans to do so. The current plan is to run the program through the end of Biden’s term, potentially allowing a future president to expand its scope and further erode Medicare, the pillar of public healthcare in America.

The government says it will preserve patient benefits while experimenting with new ways to “produce value and high quality health care.” Opponents say it is a backdoor method of privatizing Medicare against the desire or consent of patients.

But there remains one major hurdle to Medicare Advantage expansion: You have to convince enrollees to actively switch out of the default public plan.

Direct contracting flips the onus. Instead of patients having to actively choose to leave core Medicare, they are transferred by their doctor and only need to be told in an annual notification. They may have to switch doctors to opt out.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmcleod/medicare-biden-trump-progressives-privatization