I am bit late to reading this but it has been my awareness for years of the reality you are exposing. Thank you for doing it. We definitely need a universal health care and education how to care personally for ourselves. It should be taught in schools from kindergarten on… and there are many alternative ways to doing it if we want to take the responsibility for our own wellbeing. A large subject to address
Long lines is such a bogus cry. People often wait months to even call their doctors when they’re not feeling well -/ knowing they won’t be heard when they do or won’t be able to afford the care offered or the time off work to actually rest and recover.
"It’s Time to Stop Calling Them ‘Health Insurance Companies’" You have identified the issue. The American medical industry commonly has little or nothing to do with anyone's health. It's about moving money from wherever it is to providers, other vendors, and insurance companies. You talk about deaths as if they were somehow antithetical to the mission of the industry. They are not. The industry does not concern itself with deaths, or saving lives. It concerns itself with money.
The two central facts I always note are that this country spends far more on the American medical industry than real countries spend on actual health care, and that our results are worse than in almost all civilized countries. The excess expense can in part be accounted for by overcharging, which is an unquestionable problem. But it doesn't explain the poor results. The American medical industry invents conditions to "treat," and it relies on the newest (and most expensive, and least tried and true) medications and other interventions. If you "treat" a diagnosis that doesn't exist, or you use ineffective interventions, you're going to get poor results. That's what happens here.
As for single payer plans ("Medicare for All" or any other arrangement or term), they do two things. The lesser is that they reduce middlemen. The much more important is that they concentrate the source of payment in one place, and that one place then has the power to dictate.
I have given this example before, but in the 1980s, Social Security/Medicare adopted a new system it called Diagnostic Related Groups (DRG). It was struggling under the weight of paying bills for Medicare beneficiaries, and the new plan was that instead of just paying the bills, SSA/Medicare would demand an admission diagnosis (when Medicare beneficiaries got hospitalized) and any other medical conditions present in that patient (co-morbidities). Based on this information, Medicare would calculate a set fee for the hospitalization. If the doctor and hospital were efficient and successful, they kept the whole fee. If they kept the patient in longer, or the patient got readmitted for the same problem within a set period of time after discharge, the doctor and hospital were paid nothing further. At that time, I had a practice on Miami Beach. The doctors and hospitals were up in arms. Some doctors who were too young to stop practicing quit. There were four fully functioning hospitals on Miami Beach. Over then next few or several years, three of them closed. Doctors were hospitalizing patients who didn't need to be in the hospital, and keeping them there as long as they wanted, to get a fee for doing hospital rounds every day. That's what Medicare could do with hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries. A national single payer could do more. It would have a great deal of power, and it could cut out all of the private insurance companies, which love collecting premiums, but are stingy with approving payment. And no one needs to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more (millions), practicing medicine.
The point is that everyone involved needs to take this seriously, like it, be good at it, and not be greedy. I always say that if I had wanted to get rich, I would have done something else.
There was a report alleging that Brian Thompson was being investigated for fraud to the tune of hundreds of million? That he hid the $ under his soon 2b x- wife?? I guess he was ENCOURAGED by FL. Sen. Rick Scott, who made BANK from Medicare fraud. A LOT of ppl died bc of BT’s avarice, insatiable greed. UHC overcharged cancer patients by over 1k % to the point MANY of them Died. I hope BT is getting ROASTED wherever he is.
Let’s talk about how many hospitals own their own insurance companies and staff are required to buy it....then they refuse to cover illnesses.
Let’s talk about how insurance, hospital, ED and urgent care in most cases are the same entity…it’s one big grift and our government/ lawmakers are responsible for the state of things. They need to fix it now!
We want the same universal healthcare Congress currently enjoys…the legislation is written, now give it to the people!
Let’s call them what they are: GOP Death Panels who ensure suffering and death while they steal your money.
Only in America can you pay for healthcare coverage and the government allows them to tell doctors how/if treatment will be rendered and they consistently deny you care. 🤬
Universal healthcare simply must be the #1 issue for Democrats platform heading into the midterms. No, excuses. It saves money, and Trump has shown us that when he wants something money is no object.
Excellent piece. I am spending this month scrambling to every possible appointment I can, to maximize what could be the last month I'm able to affordable "insurance".
Powerful reframing with HELL Corporations, the linguistic shift matters because sanitized language like 'health insurance' obscures the mechanism you're describing. What struck me is how the industry's liability limitiation isn't just legal protection, it's semantic protection too, they've successfully branded themselves as providers when they're actualy gatekeepers extracting rent from our desperation. The $450B savings you cite becomes politically impossible to discuss when we let corporations define the terms of debate.
When I graduated nursing school in 1993, the nursing shortage evaporated as I hit the pavement looking for a job.
Under the pressure of “healthcare reform”, the hospitals laid off hundreds of skilled nurses. This was to “cut costs” when clearly that did not happen.
What did happen was that nurses were hired by the HELL companies as gatekeepers , making decisions to deny care.
In addition at that time “medical errors” became a familiar complaint as systems to keep hospitalized patients safe were abandoned.
An example was “primary care nursing” where a nurse was responsible for a patient through all shifts, checking that tests were done and that results were read.
My work in chronic disease management in a community health center was often about fighting with the HELL companies to pay for the expensive medicines that the adult or child with asthma or diabetes needed.
I believe the inequity in our society has been driven largely by the greed in real estate and HELL companies.
I am saddened, angry, and sorry that your son and family have had this experience. All my children have also been, at one time or another, denied critical as well as ongoing care resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of self pay medical expenses. Words cannot express the unnecessary medical and financial fear we have lived with.
I am confused: Bill Foster, PhD of Illinois 11 voted for ACA in 2010. When researching his subsequent votes concerning the ACA, I found no evidence he has voted to gut it. Please clarify the evidence as to why you stated that he has voted to gut it.
Thank you for asking. You can bet I don't make claims without receipts. At first glance, it’s encouraging that Bill Foster voted in 2009 to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mortifying, however, is that afterwards he accepted hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from Big Health, then voted at least three times with Republicans to gut the ACA. Specifically, he voted to gut the part of the ACA that protects people with pre-existing conditions (HR3350), the part that bans charging women more than men (HR3522), and the part that protects seniors (HR1190). Each of these bills were vehemently opposed by Democrats in Congress and Democratic Party voters -- Foster voted for them anyway. Had these bills that Bill Foster supported passed, it would have meant that children like my daughter, who has an incurable disease that is fatal if not treated, would be denied care. Worse, Foster opposes guaranteed healthcare, and calls it unrealistic—even though every developed nation on Earth has implemented it at half the cost we are forced to spend on for profit insurance.
One of Foster’s beloved donors? UnitedHealth—yes, the same company caught using AI to deny more than 90% of Medicare claims for senior citizens. Foster took their money, never returned it, never apologized, and continues cashing their checks.
Marie Newman had an interesting post earlier this week speculating that we could be closer than we think to getting at least some Rs on board with Medicare (NOT Medicare Advantage) for All.
I am bit late to reading this but it has been my awareness for years of the reality you are exposing. Thank you for doing it. We definitely need a universal health care and education how to care personally for ourselves. It should be taught in schools from kindergarten on… and there are many alternative ways to doing it if we want to take the responsibility for our own wellbeing. A large subject to address
Long lines is such a bogus cry. People often wait months to even call their doctors when they’re not feeling well -/ knowing they won’t be heard when they do or won’t be able to afford the care offered or the time off work to actually rest and recover.
Amen, Qasim! In general, health insurance companies are in business for the moey. They don't give a crap about the patients.
"It’s Time to Stop Calling Them ‘Health Insurance Companies’" You have identified the issue. The American medical industry commonly has little or nothing to do with anyone's health. It's about moving money from wherever it is to providers, other vendors, and insurance companies. You talk about deaths as if they were somehow antithetical to the mission of the industry. They are not. The industry does not concern itself with deaths, or saving lives. It concerns itself with money.
The two central facts I always note are that this country spends far more on the American medical industry than real countries spend on actual health care, and that our results are worse than in almost all civilized countries. The excess expense can in part be accounted for by overcharging, which is an unquestionable problem. But it doesn't explain the poor results. The American medical industry invents conditions to "treat," and it relies on the newest (and most expensive, and least tried and true) medications and other interventions. If you "treat" a diagnosis that doesn't exist, or you use ineffective interventions, you're going to get poor results. That's what happens here.
As for single payer plans ("Medicare for All" or any other arrangement or term), they do two things. The lesser is that they reduce middlemen. The much more important is that they concentrate the source of payment in one place, and that one place then has the power to dictate.
I have given this example before, but in the 1980s, Social Security/Medicare adopted a new system it called Diagnostic Related Groups (DRG). It was struggling under the weight of paying bills for Medicare beneficiaries, and the new plan was that instead of just paying the bills, SSA/Medicare would demand an admission diagnosis (when Medicare beneficiaries got hospitalized) and any other medical conditions present in that patient (co-morbidities). Based on this information, Medicare would calculate a set fee for the hospitalization. If the doctor and hospital were efficient and successful, they kept the whole fee. If they kept the patient in longer, or the patient got readmitted for the same problem within a set period of time after discharge, the doctor and hospital were paid nothing further. At that time, I had a practice on Miami Beach. The doctors and hospitals were up in arms. Some doctors who were too young to stop practicing quit. There were four fully functioning hospitals on Miami Beach. Over then next few or several years, three of them closed. Doctors were hospitalizing patients who didn't need to be in the hospital, and keeping them there as long as they wanted, to get a fee for doing hospital rounds every day. That's what Medicare could do with hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries. A national single payer could do more. It would have a great deal of power, and it could cut out all of the private insurance companies, which love collecting premiums, but are stingy with approving payment. And no one needs to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more (millions), practicing medicine.
The point is that everyone involved needs to take this seriously, like it, be good at it, and not be greedy. I always say that if I had wanted to get rich, I would have done something else.
For-profit health insurance is evil. Thank you for speaking truth about this cruel, rigged system.
There was a report alleging that Brian Thompson was being investigated for fraud to the tune of hundreds of million? That he hid the $ under his soon 2b x- wife?? I guess he was ENCOURAGED by FL. Sen. Rick Scott, who made BANK from Medicare fraud. A LOT of ppl died bc of BT’s avarice, insatiable greed. UHC overcharged cancer patients by over 1k % to the point MANY of them Died. I hope BT is getting ROASTED wherever he is.
Let’s talk about how many hospitals own their own insurance companies and staff are required to buy it....then they refuse to cover illnesses.
Let’s talk about how insurance, hospital, ED and urgent care in most cases are the same entity…it’s one big grift and our government/ lawmakers are responsible for the state of things. They need to fix it now!
We want the same universal healthcare Congress currently enjoys…the legislation is written, now give it to the people!
Let’s call them what they are: GOP Death Panels who ensure suffering and death while they steal your money.
Only in America can you pay for healthcare coverage and the government allows them to tell doctors how/if treatment will be rendered and they consistently deny you care. 🤬
Universal healthcare simply must be the #1 issue for Democrats platform heading into the midterms. No, excuses. It saves money, and Trump has shown us that when he wants something money is no object.
Excellent piece. I am spending this month scrambling to every possible appointment I can, to maximize what could be the last month I'm able to affordable "insurance".
Powerful reframing with HELL Corporations, the linguistic shift matters because sanitized language like 'health insurance' obscures the mechanism you're describing. What struck me is how the industry's liability limitiation isn't just legal protection, it's semantic protection too, they've successfully branded themselves as providers when they're actualy gatekeepers extracting rent from our desperation. The $450B savings you cite becomes politically impossible to discuss when we let corporations define the terms of debate.
When I graduated nursing school in 1993, the nursing shortage evaporated as I hit the pavement looking for a job.
Under the pressure of “healthcare reform”, the hospitals laid off hundreds of skilled nurses. This was to “cut costs” when clearly that did not happen.
What did happen was that nurses were hired by the HELL companies as gatekeepers , making decisions to deny care.
In addition at that time “medical errors” became a familiar complaint as systems to keep hospitalized patients safe were abandoned.
An example was “primary care nursing” where a nurse was responsible for a patient through all shifts, checking that tests were done and that results were read.
My work in chronic disease management in a community health center was often about fighting with the HELL companies to pay for the expensive medicines that the adult or child with asthma or diabetes needed.
I believe the inequity in our society has been driven largely by the greed in real estate and HELL companies.
Brilliant work here.
I am saddened, angry, and sorry that your son and family have had this experience. All my children have also been, at one time or another, denied critical as well as ongoing care resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of self pay medical expenses. Words cannot express the unnecessary medical and financial fear we have lived with.
So sorry about all of your unnecessary suffering. Isn't illness on its own difficult enough?
I am confused: Bill Foster, PhD of Illinois 11 voted for ACA in 2010. When researching his subsequent votes concerning the ACA, I found no evidence he has voted to gut it. Please clarify the evidence as to why you stated that he has voted to gut it.
Thank you for asking. You can bet I don't make claims without receipts. At first glance, it’s encouraging that Bill Foster voted in 2009 to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mortifying, however, is that afterwards he accepted hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from Big Health, then voted at least three times with Republicans to gut the ACA. Specifically, he voted to gut the part of the ACA that protects people with pre-existing conditions (HR3350), the part that bans charging women more than men (HR3522), and the part that protects seniors (HR1190). Each of these bills were vehemently opposed by Democrats in Congress and Democratic Party voters -- Foster voted for them anyway. Had these bills that Bill Foster supported passed, it would have meant that children like my daughter, who has an incurable disease that is fatal if not treated, would be denied care. Worse, Foster opposes guaranteed healthcare, and calls it unrealistic—even though every developed nation on Earth has implemented it at half the cost we are forced to spend on for profit insurance.
One of Foster’s beloved donors? UnitedHealth—yes, the same company caught using AI to deny more than 90% of Medicare claims for senior citizens. Foster took their money, never returned it, never apologized, and continues cashing their checks.
Disgusting!
Marie Newman had an interesting post earlier this week speculating that we could be closer than we think to getting at least some Rs on board with Medicare (NOT Medicare Advantage) for All.