Regulators have kept problems secret, and there’s no fix in sight, according to an article published by The Center for Public Integrity.

Key Findings:

• Federal officials have made billions in “improper” payments to Medicare Advantage plans traced to risk score errors.
• Medicare Advantage risk scores rose much faster than the national average in hundreds of counties nationwide between 2007 and 2011. That rise in risk scores cost taxpayers more than $36 billion; critics attribute that more to aggressive billing than sicker patients.
• Though federal health officials have recently disclosed some Medicare billing data, key financial records of Medicare Advantage plans have been kept under wraps.
• The failure to crack down on health plans that overbill doesn’t bode well for the Affordable Care Act, which relies on a similar risk scoring system.

Please click here to read the article on The Center for Public Integrity website.