Sen. Al Franken didn't mince words when he accused Medicare Advantage plans of overcharging the federal government -- and praised legislation to slash their payments by billions of dollars. "These insurers were getting much more than they should have based on the benefits they were providing to seniors. So we cut what Medicare gives to these private insurance companies," the Minnesota Democrat intoned in a Dec. 13, 2012, speech on the Senate floor in praise of the Affordable Care Act. Franken rebuked Republican Mitt Romney for his 2012 presidential campaign promise to, in Franken's words, "restore those billions and billions of dollars in overpayments to private insurance companies for no reason, for no good effect, just so that, I guess, these insurance companies could have more profit."
