How Medicare Advantage Scammers Get Away With It

In my multiple writings on the Medicare Advantage scam, the most common two responses I get (besides, “Thanks, you may have saved my life!”) are, “I’ve never had a problem with my Advantage plan,” and “If it’s so bad, how come so few people are saying so?”

Both are honest, good-faith questions and highlight how easy it is for insurance companies to get away with their Medicare Advantage scams. The answer to both boils down to the unique nature of insurance being the only “product” we buy where we have no idea if it’s any good until something bad happens — which can take years.

Every state in the union has an insurance commissioner. But why?

Why would any state go to the trouble and expense of creating a new layer of bureaucracy?

We don’t have “auto dealership commissioners” or “big-box retailer commissioners”: only insurance has an elected or appointed overseer.

Why would a state want to elect or appoint a very well-paid person to a new position in state government? Why would they appropriate money for a staff, for offices, in some cases even for buildings for a state insurance commissioner?

It turns out the answer is quite simple. One of the easiest scams in the history of scams, going all the way back centuries before Alfred Ponzi set up shop in Pie Alley, is done with insurance.

Here’s how it works.