I wrote yesterday about the passing of Be a Hero’s Ady Barkan and how he was a fierce advocate for a health care system that is fair and affordable and not run by profit-obsessed insurance companies.
I do NOT have a Medicare Advantage plan, but AMA supplemental. Out of the blue this week I received a letter from Signifyhealth, thanking me for having completed my annual wellness visit. Attached was a Barnes & Noble gift card for $15. By going to their website, I learned that Signify Health had been acquired by CVS Health, and it appears that they are luring patients by advertising their At-home wellness visits by NP’s and PA’s, with videos of immensely satisfied patients. I have no intention of using the gift card - but suspect this is another ploy to lure Medicare Advantage business. Very disturbing to me.
Why so much spending on political influence? Just follow the money, and there ROI.
The medical industrial complex (i.e. cartel) wants to protect its perverse profits – profits that reached $3.65 trillion/year in 2018 and are now over $4 trillion. They fear single-payer and see that as an important step toward reforms that could bring US costs in line with other advanced nations – nations that spend half as much but have better longevity and outcomes even as they cover everyone.
Reforms that match the average healthcare spending of other rich nations would save our nation more than $2 trillion/year but cut industry revenue in half. Think of what a democratic society could do with that money if invested strategically, and what industry executives might do to prevent that. That's why I expect a fight – a big one.
Even a one-time investment of $1 trillion during a single election cycle is financially justified if it prevents a loss of $2 trillion/year. To hell with savings for the rest of us. (from mHealthTalk.com/trillion/)
I do NOT have a Medicare Advantage plan, but AMA supplemental. Out of the blue this week I received a letter from Signifyhealth, thanking me for having completed my annual wellness visit. Attached was a Barnes & Noble gift card for $15. By going to their website, I learned that Signify Health had been acquired by CVS Health, and it appears that they are luring patients by advertising their At-home wellness visits by NP’s and PA’s, with videos of immensely satisfied patients. I have no intention of using the gift card - but suspect this is another ploy to lure Medicare Advantage business. Very disturbing to me.
Why so much spending on political influence? Just follow the money, and there ROI.
The medical industrial complex (i.e. cartel) wants to protect its perverse profits – profits that reached $3.65 trillion/year in 2018 and are now over $4 trillion. They fear single-payer and see that as an important step toward reforms that could bring US costs in line with other advanced nations – nations that spend half as much but have better longevity and outcomes even as they cover everyone.
Reforms that match the average healthcare spending of other rich nations would save our nation more than $2 trillion/year but cut industry revenue in half. Think of what a democratic society could do with that money if invested strategically, and what industry executives might do to prevent that. That's why I expect a fight – a big one.
Even a one-time investment of $1 trillion during a single election cycle is financially justified if it prevents a loss of $2 trillion/year. To hell with savings for the rest of us. (from mHealthTalk.com/trillion/)