As I’ve written previously, before I left my job as VP of corporate communications at big health insurer Cigna, I was in a leadership meeting with the company’s CEO at the time, Ed Hanway. At the end of the meeting, as we sipped on coffee and finished off snacks, a colleague asked our nearly fearless leader a question I’ll never forget:
The invisible hand cannot work in an obfuscated market where misallocation abounds. Insert third parties that provide less value than cost (like self-interested insurance companies, ACO's, government programs, consolidated institutions, and private equity)...then add multiple layers of obfuscation...this is not the invisible hand of value and pricing, this is corruption for profit and allowed by our politicians, with Obama as the Don. This is all designed to make the wheels fall off the bus and the only thing left to do will be single payer, which was probably the plan all along.
Prying the politicians out of their back pockets may be a daunting task. But an informed constituency may be the solution.
As long as money is involved in politics there will be conflicts of interest issues.
As long as the law makers are permitted to own their stocks, get large donations from and be beholden to these corporations and their lobbyists, we will all be prisoners of this barbaric system.
I presume you’re very familiar with Dave Chase and the entire Health Rosetta benefit advisory crowd. It makes me so happy to see your outlet covering this movement! Kudos Wendell.
Whatever can be done to decrease the escalating costs of Pharmaceuticals, particularly those medications that only treat symptoms but not root causes, and put a stop to the exploitation of the Medicare Trust Fund by Big private insurers who have created a monster out of Medicare (dis) Advantage Policies that deny and delay medical care services, while gutting the Trust Fund, causing at least 10,000 Americans to die from often preventable afflictions, and move those of us to a more equitable process (namely the Traditional Medicare Policies, without adding costs such as the Donut Hole, and Longterm care at skilled nursing facilities for recuperation and rehabilitation) and finally, strict negotiated costs and investigation follow up to prevent the fraud both in costs and in Medicare (dis) Advantage advertising that is dangerously deceptive. I don't know if we as a country have the discipline to comprehensively review these health-care policies regularly to weed out the bad actors among the so-called competitive (actually) monopolized private Insurance companies. Anti-trust legislation is clearly needed. I'm afraid however, that there isn't the political will in Congress to act with integrity amongst the wealthiest Members of the US Congress and US Senate. There is too much collusion between politicians and Industry Lobbyists. We the People are sick and tired of the non-action or piecemeal bandaids being proffered by the Insurance Companies and the budget cuts that prevent investigators from properly and comprehensively examining the deceptive processes that enrich the Private Insurance Companies AT THE EXPENSE of Americans both working and those who are retired. There is too little accountability in our Governments' Quality systems related to Medicare, privatizing of Government agencies, violations of human rights in correctional facilities, cost overruns in defense procurement. When are these problems going to be fixed. These are all serious deficiencies that should be addressed promptly. More consumer oversight by ordinary Americans needs to be employed to fix these systemic abuses and concerns.
Years ago, when I was employed, I opted for the most expensive out-of-network coverage offered to me. I did dangerous things (skiing and mountain biking) which took me out of range of my network providers. One day while mountain biking I dislocated my little finger. We hot footed it back to the ranger station, where the directed me to the nearest local hospital. My provider - Cigna - did not pay even one single penny. Nada, Zilch.
Big companies and institutions learned a long time ago to self-insure because it's cheaper. They only use insurance companies for administration and billing. I don't know why single payer advocates don't point this out.
Clap. clap, clap. You go, Mr. Potter.
The invisible hand cannot work in an obfuscated market where misallocation abounds. Insert third parties that provide less value than cost (like self-interested insurance companies, ACO's, government programs, consolidated institutions, and private equity)...then add multiple layers of obfuscation...this is not the invisible hand of value and pricing, this is corruption for profit and allowed by our politicians, with Obama as the Don. This is all designed to make the wheels fall off the bus and the only thing left to do will be single payer, which was probably the plan all along.
Prying the politicians out of their back pockets may be a daunting task. But an informed constituency may be the solution.
As long as money is involved in politics there will be conflicts of interest issues.
As long as the law makers are permitted to own their stocks, get large donations from and be beholden to these corporations and their lobbyists, we will all be prisoners of this barbaric system.
That’s what keeps me up at night!
I presume you’re very familiar with Dave Chase and the entire Health Rosetta benefit advisory crowd. It makes me so happy to see your outlet covering this movement! Kudos Wendell.
Whatever can be done to decrease the escalating costs of Pharmaceuticals, particularly those medications that only treat symptoms but not root causes, and put a stop to the exploitation of the Medicare Trust Fund by Big private insurers who have created a monster out of Medicare (dis) Advantage Policies that deny and delay medical care services, while gutting the Trust Fund, causing at least 10,000 Americans to die from often preventable afflictions, and move those of us to a more equitable process (namely the Traditional Medicare Policies, without adding costs such as the Donut Hole, and Longterm care at skilled nursing facilities for recuperation and rehabilitation) and finally, strict negotiated costs and investigation follow up to prevent the fraud both in costs and in Medicare (dis) Advantage advertising that is dangerously deceptive. I don't know if we as a country have the discipline to comprehensively review these health-care policies regularly to weed out the bad actors among the so-called competitive (actually) monopolized private Insurance companies. Anti-trust legislation is clearly needed. I'm afraid however, that there isn't the political will in Congress to act with integrity amongst the wealthiest Members of the US Congress and US Senate. There is too much collusion between politicians and Industry Lobbyists. We the People are sick and tired of the non-action or piecemeal bandaids being proffered by the Insurance Companies and the budget cuts that prevent investigators from properly and comprehensively examining the deceptive processes that enrich the Private Insurance Companies AT THE EXPENSE of Americans both working and those who are retired. There is too little accountability in our Governments' Quality systems related to Medicare, privatizing of Government agencies, violations of human rights in correctional facilities, cost overruns in defense procurement. When are these problems going to be fixed. These are all serious deficiencies that should be addressed promptly. More consumer oversight by ordinary Americans needs to be employed to fix these systemic abuses and concerns.
Spreading the word far and wide. Thank you Wendell Potter!
Years ago, when I was employed, I opted for the most expensive out-of-network coverage offered to me. I did dangerous things (skiing and mountain biking) which took me out of range of my network providers. One day while mountain biking I dislocated my little finger. We hot footed it back to the ranger station, where the directed me to the nearest local hospital. My provider - Cigna - did not pay even one single penny. Nada, Zilch.
Big companies and institutions learned a long time ago to self-insure because it's cheaper. They only use insurance companies for administration and billing. I don't know why single payer advocates don't point this out.