Posted on 08/20/2018 11:02:49 AM PDT by davikkm
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. 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!
(Excerpt) Read more at investmentwatchblog.com ...
I wonder how many years ago they actually cured diabetes?
Color me skeptical of these claims.
Looks like an issue for Trump to handle.
I’d love to see him yank to rug out from under these insurance companies.
Remember when they kissed our butts to get on board with them?
They loved us being loyal customers? They actually gave discounts if you stayed with them.
The article doesn’t assess the policy issue.
The Helth Maintenance Act of 1973 made capitation legal. Previously, it was illegal for a health care provider to accept payment for not performing treatment. But that is precisely what capitation is, and it was enacted as part of the HMO Act as a cost-saving measure.
Further, HMOs were conceived as a stepping stone to a full government takeover of the health care sector. In the Kaiser Permanente health system, doctors are employees of Kaiser, hospitals and clinics are fully owned by Kaiser, etc. In a sense, HMOs are a state (not government) collectivization of health care.
Fortunately, patients rebelled against capitation because it imposed de facto constraints on access to care. So the private insurers replaced hard caps with soft caps, as have the state Medicaid systems. But capitation is still legal.
While you’re at it look at all the fat kids that are future diabetics.
Teddy Kennedy’s finger prints were all over the HMO Act.
OK, they guy’s a total idiot. Or he’s deliberately lying. “and even doctors, could begin functioning as for-profit business entities”. I can’t believe he’s so stupid that he doesn’t know doctors were trying to make money back in the 1960s.
Big medicine is corrupt, just like every giant entity. It’s why I don’t contribute to “cancer research.”
Nixon IS to blame.
When he made health care available to people as a job ‘benefit’ it was one step closer to a faceless benefit that, eventually, only the government could provide.
Before then people paid for their own medical bills. And churches and charities stepped in when things got really bad.
Then, the costs became hidden. When your ‘co-pay’ is all your see, it does not matter where you go. Why shop around? Its the same price everywhere.
Except it isn’t, and companies figured out they could charge as much as they could collude with the insurance companies to pay. With Government and FDA ‘approval’.
Invent a new drug that allows men to have more sex? I wonder if there would be a market for something like that...?
Why mass-produce it for pennies when you can get government to FORCE insurance companies to pay $95 a pill, as part of your ‘health care’
Get the government totally out of health care and the costs will go down. Get them totally involved and you will have The VA for all.
“Before then people paid for their own medical bills.
—
Nope-—we had employer paid healthcare in the early 60s.
.
My understanding was that Senator Ted Kennedy introduced the bill. Don’t remember when and where I read that so take it with a grain of salt.
Since it would be unconstitutional to make doctors slaves, I wonder what law forcing all to NOT make a profit preceded the law in the article and when.
Bingo. Cloward and Piven At it’s finest
There’s a company called Lincare that supplies parts (masks, hoses, etc.) for my Bipap machine that I use for sleep apnea. They are criminals for the prices they charge the insurance companies - for example, $90 for a mask insert that Amazon sells for $30, plus their service is terrible and always late.
Oh they can charge what they want but do no ever get paid what they are billing..
Or that a whole lotta stuff that was a death sentence back then is easily treatable these days.
Back to the research stacks for you - employers began paying health insurance premiums as an employment benefit back in WW2 as a response to wage freezes so they could entice the workers they needed for the war effort. Wages were frozen/controlled but benefits were not so that was the way to become the employer of choice in those days. As Mears notes, the benefit was well-entrenched by the 60s and Nixon being elected in 1968 had little to do with how it continued and expanded.
If you look at the curve for health care/insurance costs, the sharp incline begins in 1966 (Medicare/Medicaid). I am reading a book called “Death by Regulation” by Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, which claims that a change in FDA rules in the early ‘60s caused the huge spike in R&D and hence delays in the availability of new drugs, and increased prices of all drugs.
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