Timothy Noah discusses how Medicare privatization may result in higher costs to consumers becoming sicker and more in debt.

"The challenge with all privatization schemes is that the private sector doesn’t aspire to save the government money. Why should it? Sometimes the market can be induced to do so in spite of itself through virtuous corporate management or vigilant government oversight. But it’s uniquely foolish to expect the market not to maximize profit on a commodity that people need as desperately as health care"

newrepublic.com/article/189804/privatizing-medicare-advantage-scam-claims-fraudulent

Mr. O'Malley discussed how long phone hold times, waiting periods for decisions to claims, and over-payment issues impact claimants in a recent interview with Jeffrey Buckner (Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Communications) on SSATalks

Mr. O'Malley stated in part:
"...we’re in a customer service crisis right now. It is not normal. It's not acceptable. And it's not right the people who have worked their whole lives to earn benefits should have to wait for 44 minutes, for an hour or more, in order to have their question answered. It's not right that 10,000 people a year die waiting for their disability determinations to be made, and it's not right that we should have situations where we, through no fault of the recipient, find ourselves in the situation of overpayments and recovering dollars that actually 4 put people out of their homes and inflict enormous hardship on, as you know, seniors" 

(Listen to the full interview here)