How Upstate Retirees Fought Privatized Health Care And Won
Medicare Advantage plans are spreading across upstate New York, despite a reputation for denying care. In Cortland County, retirees kept it at bay.
![A sign for the Guthrie Cortland Medical Center](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/4vJYk6F46_JpphaarrQ4liDw-8xydjyW8jfine4ey_U/w:820/h:615/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9ndXRocmllLWNvcnRsYW5kLW1lZGljYWwtY2VudGVyLmpwZw.jpg)
“Medicare Advantage plans do not exist primarily to serve beneficiaries. They exist to serve investors.”
![Attorney Ed Goehler and a Cortland County retiree at a table](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/yuyxw5LEKlVmg4rQgCWDSH1XjomJg7ROuDlV9qzpgTw/w:820/h:615/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9FZC1Hb2VobGVyLXBob3RvLndlYnA.webp)
“They didn’t want to know about it because they weren’t going to participate no matter what.”
![](https://imgproxy.gridwork.co/NdRp8X3c0DFbb7YJ-jRR9mjqVW-m0jfWNxX6R4s5DFk/w:135/h:190/rt:fill/g:fp:0.5:0.5/q:90/f:jpg/el:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy51cy1lYXN0LTIuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9ueXNmb2N1cy9TY3JlZW4tU2hvdC0yMDE5LTAyLTA0LWF0LTdfMjhfNTEtUE0ud2VicA.jpg)
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