>From three years ago. http://healthoverprofit.org/2017/03/19/for-profit-health-care-used-to-be-illegal/ > For-Profit Health Care Used To Be Illegal > <http://healthoverprofit.org/2017/03/19/for-profit-health-care-used-to-be-illegal/> > 19 Mar 2017 | Campaign Updates > <http://healthoverprofit.org/category/campaign-updates/> > > *By Gary St. Lawrence of **The Critical Eye > <https://thecriticalaye.com/2011/08/31/skyrocketing-health-care-costs-thanks-president-nixon/>* > (from > August, 2011) > > Is the health insurance business a racket? Yes, literally. And this is why > the shameless pandering to robber baron corporations posing as “health > providers” is such an egregious … and obvious … tactic to do nothing more > than plump up insurance company profits. > > And do you know who’s to blame? Believe it or not, the downfall of the > American health insurance system falls squarely on the shoulders of former > President Richard M. Nixon. > > In 1973, Nixon did a personal favor for his friend and campaign financier, > Edgar Kaiser, then president and chairman of Kaiser-Permanente. Nixon > signed into law, the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973, in which > medical insurance agencies, hospitals, clinics and even doctors, could > begin functioning as for-profit business entities instead of the service > organizations they were intended to be. And which insurance company got > the first taste of federal subsidies to implement HMOA73 … *gasp* … why, it > was Kaiser-Permanente! What are the odds? It’s all right here to read > for yourself > <http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/b46391c0-55d0-45c4-91af-3e8793c1512b>. > > And to perfectly cement HMOA73 as the profiteering boondoggle that it > actually was, the law Nixon mandated also included clauses that encouraged > medical providers to not CURE afflictions, but to PROLONG them by only > treating the symptoms. *There’s no money to be made in CURING sickness.* > But the sky’s the limit when it comes to forcing people to endure > repetitive doctor visits, endless (and often useless and redundant) tests, > and … of course … let’s not forget the ever-increasing demand for > American-made prescription drugs! > > Have you noticed recently that the words “prolonged coma” and DEATH have > wormed their way into the fast-spoken side-effects list of just about every > new drug you see on television or hear on the radio? Death! From the > medicine that’s supposed to cure you! You know what? I’ll take restless > legs over DEATH. > > So it’s an arms race between insurers, who deploy software and manpower > trying to find claims they can reject, and doctors and hospitals, who > deploy their own forces in an effort to outsmart or challenge the insurers. > And the cost of this arms race ends up being borne by the public, in the > form of higher health care prices and higher insurance premiums. Of course, > rejecting claims is a clumsy way to deny coverage. The best way for an > insurer to avoid paying medical bills is to avoid selling insurance to > people who really need it. An insurance company can accomplish this in two > ways, through marketing that targets the healthy, and through underwriting: > Rejecting the sick or charging them higher premiums. See the pattern? > > Like denial management, however, marketing and underwriting cost a lot of > money. McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, recently released an > important report dissecting the reasons America spends so much more on > health care than other wealthy nations. One major factor is that we spend > $128 Billion a year in excess administrative costs, with more than half of > the total accounted for by marketing and underwriting – costs that don’t > exist in single-payer systems. > > And this is just part of the story. McKinsey’s estimate of excess > administrative costs counts only the costs of insurers. It doesn’t, as the > report concedes, include other “important consequences of the multi-payor > system,” like the extra costs imposed on providers. The sums doctors pay to > denial management specialists are just one example. But the larger problem > isn’t the behavior of any individual company. It’s the ugly incentives > provided by a rigged, and now federally backed scam system in which giving > care is punished, while denying it is rewarded. > > American health care: It’s enough to make you sick. >
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