... and because some of them actually believe all the propaganda about this being the world's greatest health care system and how we'd be crazy to change it. They obviously haven't had their own personal managed care moments yet, or they're too thick to recognizing them when they happen.
(CAUTION: Another very long post. Read at your own risk. Do not operate a car or heavy machinery for at least three hours after finishing it.)Two important distinctions in terminology: health care and for-profit medical insurance have absolutely nothing to do with each other except in the twisted minds of Chicago School libertarian fanatics and free market pitchmen.
Single-payer DOES NOT have to equal socialized medicine, although it can and does in some countries. But in general, states, provinces and countries haven't set their single-payer systems up that way. This scenario is more typical:
Let's say your doc has his own small family practice, which he runs as an LLC. He probably accepts payment from a couple of dozen different insurance carriers. Does that mean he works for, say, Blue Cross or Cigna or Aetna? Of course not.
Under single-payer, he would no more work for the government than he now works for an insurance company. He gets paid by the feds, but runs his own business exactly as he has for many years.
So docs and hospitals continue to operate as they always have, although for-profit facilities must convert to non-profits. The truly revolutionary change is that now the feds foot the bill via a progressive tax that hits the rich hardest and the poor not at all.
In fact, if a patient just looks at the outward signs, things are very much as they've always been. You see the same doctors and support staff. You have blood drawn at the same labs. If you're seriously injured or suddenly become ill, you end up at the same ER. You see the same specialists. If surgery is required, the same group of medical professionals handles the entire process – from pre-op to rehab. You find that service is about as fast, or as slow, as ever. And if you want a tummy tuck or nose job, you're still going to have to pay for it out of your own pocket.
Of course, that's a hell of a lot of facts for a winger weaned on GOP lies and bullshit talking points to handle. Then again, you'd think that by now this scam of a system would have left its mark on just about everybody in the US. But if not, here's a quick list of characteristics common to single-payer systems, not one of which is part of our own medical disaster:
One nation, one payer
Everybody in, nobody out
No exclusions for pre-existing conditions
No doctor bills
No hospital bills
No deductibles
No co-pays
No in network
No out of network
No corporate profits
No more medical bankruptcies
I don't know what the hell is so hard to understand about that. But it scares the shit out of the for-profit vampires. Their trade association spent a reported $100 million on the infamous Harry and Louise ad and PR campaign the last time health care "reform" was being discussed -- the mostly awful "HillaryCare" plan circa 1993 that had none of the above attributes and ended up a just another suck-up to the for-profit medicine machine. I imagine they would have gladly spent a hundred times that if the money could have guaranteed the continued existence of their cash cow policies and usurious premiums.
The success of Harry and Louise in turning millions of angry, reform-minded health care consumers into a pack of addle-pated sheep too scared to mess with "the greatest health care system in the world" convinced me that the combined influence of a third-world public educational system and an all-powerful propaganda machine has all but eliminated critical thinking in the US and replaced it with name recognition, happy talk ad slogans and easy to memorize buzz phrases. Pretty effective, too, since health care "reform" hasn't reared its ugly head until now.
That $100 million bought them 15 years of slack to continue operating as rapaciously as ever, despite the fact that they're just about universally despised by patients, rate payers, docs, nurses, other health care professionals, hospitals, the uninsured, the underinsured, labor unions, most professional associations and just about anyone with a brain, a calculator and a conscience.
Even big biz is starting to see for-profit medicine as a major problem for two main reasons. It's costing them a fortune to maintain their employee insurance plans in the face of double-digit increases in premiums each year for the past seven. Worse yet, anything they sell, from cars to IT systems management services, will either have to include a covert surcharge to recoup some or all of those costs, or they'll just have to eat them by accepting lower per-unit margins. In some cases, they're simply priced out of a given market where their goods or services have to compete with those from countries with rational health care systems and which allow them to undercut US pricing and still earn higher margins.
So with that kind of broad-based opposition building against these for-profit thieves, they're starting to feel a little heat again. Fortunately for them, they've greased enough political palms over the years that they can count on the support of a critical mass of Congress, not to mention slavish obedience from the executive branch.
Still, they're not trusting enough to pin their industry's long-term survival exclusively on the bribes they pay to keep their Congressional employees voting in their favor. Over the past decade, they've expanded their propaganda efforts into sophisticated TV marketing campaigns that link the iconic concepts of career success, physical attractiveness, the reproductive practices of white people and the fast track to upward mobility with the nurturing, cordial, long-term intimate relationships developed and enjoyed by the insured and their insurers.
It's not medicine for money, we're told; let's not get bogged down in the squalid netherworld of cash and carry. No, no, no. Look at the big picture. We're discussing issues that transcend a few dollars and cents. We're talking about the unique partnerships the American medical insurance industry builds between its exceptionally friendly and helpful company reps and those discerning members of the public who know a company that's in sync with their lifestyles when they see one.
Nor is it a business in any generally accepted sense of the word. Sure there's execs and shareholders and receptionists and computers and all the trappings of a conventional business. But look a little closer and we see it's actually just a bunch of kindly, caring, compassionate, good-hearted folks leading rewarding and satisfying lives by working for a company that provides its members with the finest, most technically advanced, most affordable, most accessible and most effective health care available anywhere, at any time, in the entire history of the planet. And by golly, wouldn't you like to be a member of this happy crowd?
Let's not talk money now. Let's look at the buffer zone we'll create between you and the harsh dog-eat-dog world that's just waiting for you to fuck up so it can steal all your money and other liquid assets and dis your mama.
So sit back, close your eyes for a minute and feel the soothing, calming, insulated feeling of total protection you get when you leave all your health care worries and concerns in the hands of these good-hearted, generous people whose only desire in life is to improve yours. And if that doesn't work, take a few of these and call us in the morning.
Meanwhile, on the other side of happy talk la la land, the money just keeps on rolling in. I'm not sure I have the skills or the right calculator to do the math, but you can if you want:
- The total for-profit medical market was worth about $2.2 TRILLION in 2007. It was probably half that in 1993 but that's just a random guess.
- Industry analysts estimate that between 25 and 40 percent of each dollar they take in is either returned to shareholders as profits or covers the cost of doing business, which are defined so loosely that the IRS auditors must laugh their fat parasitic asses off as they wade through the thousands of insane deductions these bastards claim as vital business expenses.
- You'd have to look up the industry's CAGR to develop an accurate formula describing how many billions, probably trillions in profits that brilliant $100 million investment returned.
- Whatever that number turns out to be, it's going to be astounding and should crank up the anger level to new levels.
And one final point I think is worth making:
The US is unique in the world in its child-like belief in corporate good citizenship and the intrinsic benevolence of a medical system based solely on profits. This is not only naive, it just can't happen because US law and SEC regulations demand that a publicly owned, for-profit corporation base its entire business model on achieving one single objective: maximizing shareholder equity.
Anything that bumps the stock price is good; anything that lowers it is bad. So paying claims is bad because it sucks money from the bottom line, while not paying claims is great because it saves money that contributes to corporate profitability. This ultimately helps raise the price of the stock, keeps the investors happy and keeps the SEC off the CFO's back for another quarter.
In short, it's literally impossible for a US for-profit publicly held medical insurer to live up to its opposing obligations to both its subscribers and shareholders at the same time. And, as noted above, if somebody has to get screwed, by law it's going to be the peasants.
So stay healthy and, if you happen to get sick, hope that you're in Canada or Western Europe at the time.
wp
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
