The Stealthy, Ugly Growth of Corporatized Medicine

[antigop]

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/04/stealthy-ugly-growth-corporatized-medicine.html

Yves here. We’ve written a great deal about Obamacare, since it epitomizes so much about what is wrong with contemporary America: the use of complexity to mask looting, the creation of two-tier systems, the crapification of the underlying service, which in this case is vitally important to society as a whole.

But Obamacare also needs to be recognized as a big step forward in a process that was already well underway, which is to convert the practice of medicine from a patient-oriented to a profit-driven exercise. This is perverse because medicine is so highly valued that medical practitioners almost always enjoy high status and at least decent incomes in most societies. And in societies undergoing breakdown, being a doctor is about the safest place to be, provided you can manage to avoid becoming aligned with the wrong warring faction.

But what is going on in the US is a type of under-the-radar enclosure movement. Doctors historically have been small businessmen, either operating solo or in a group practice. But big corporations see their profits as another revenue opportunity, and have become increasingly adept at making it so hard for them to operate independently that becoming part of the corporatized medicine apparatus looks like the least bad of the available options.

We warned last year that current institutional efforts to regiment doctors undermine the caliber of medical care. It has become distressingly common for HMOs and other medical enterprises to have business-school trained managers putting factory-style production parameters on doctor visits. Outside of foreclosure mills, it’s hard to find similar approaches in other professions.

Dr. David Edelberg:
"• The health industry hopes that individual medical practices and small medical groups will ultimately disappear from the landscape by being financially absorbed into larger groups owned by hospital systems."

[Demeter]

1. Big Box Medicine

to match Big Box retail, grocery, and education.

The bigger the box, the smaller the people get....

[antigop]

2. yes, that's a very good way to put it. nt

[Demeter]

3. Thanks!

I do like to make the occasional bon mot...just to keep my snark in practice and limber, for board meetings and other social warfare events!

[proverbialwisdom]

4. More.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/daily-reports/2014/march/19/implementation-issues.aspx

Some Well-Known Cancer Centers Are Not Included In Many Obamacare Plan Networks

MAR 19, 2014

An Associated Press survey finds examples across the country of renowned medical centers left off plans. Meanwhile, other news outlets report on implementation issues related to young people as well as premium costs.

The Associated Press: Health Law Concerns For Cancer Centers
Cancer patients relieved that they can get insurance coverage because of the new health care law may be disappointed to learn that some the nation's best cancer hospitals are off-limits. An Associated Press survey found examples coast to coast. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is excluded by five out of eight insurers in Washington state's insurance exchange. MD Anderson Cancer Center says it's in less than half of the plans in the Houston area. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is included by two of nine insurers in New York City and has out-of-network agreements with two more (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/19).

Kaiser Health News: Some Young People Won't Get Tax Help For Obamacare Insurance
Subsidies in the health law were designed to lower insurance costs for people who make around $11,000 to $46,000 a year. But for young people earning toward the higher end of that range, it's more complicated than that. A new study shows that in major cities, some young people are falling into a gap where they make about $46,000 or under, but don't actually qualify for government help to pay their insurance premiums (Gordon, 3/18).

The Hill: Obamacare Premiums To Skyrocket
Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration. The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs (Viebeck, 3/19).

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