Sunday, January 16, 2022

Brief Note on For-Profit Health Care

When the whole health care system’s goal is first to make a profit, and when the state also supports the health care system in that goal, the system becomes an extortion racket. This doesn’t mean that individuals or organizations in the system must be forbidden to make a living or even a profit, but that their goals cannot be allowed to override the goal of keeping people healthy.

The Biden administration’s solicitude of health insurance and pharmaceutical industry profits is discouraging, though it is probably politically necessary. Yes, Jeff Zients, Biden Administration White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, I am looking at you.

5 comments:

  1. Don't you wish you had public health care? Canada's leaves a great deal to be desired as it doesn't fund dental, optical, or drugs but there are safety nets even there. No one went bankrupt and emergencies are dealt with in a very timely fashion

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  2. oh yes. The ACA and Medicare part D are a vast improvement, but we fall short of every other high-income country.

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  3. Part D is coverage for prescription drugs. Prior to the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, Medicare had no coverage for prescription drugs at all. It's still not very good coverage, even after the ACA improved it, but it is much, much better than nothing.

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  4. Prescription drug pricing is a sign of how totally the pharmaceutical industry controls Congress.

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