Profits are a reward for taking risks.
How can it be that a company makes a 30% margin being the gate keeper between you and your doctor? Why should a hospital chain make a 30% margin delivering health care?
How is that moral? There is no risk in those businesses.
People exist. That is not changing anytime soon. They will fall ill. That is not going to change anytime soon either.
There is no moral justification for making a profit in these enterprises. They take no risks. Health care is health care. It is little more than a commodity. Only an abuse of market forces permit an enterprise to command a 30% return.
The Mayo Clinic is a not for profit Hospital. They try to make a 3% margin. That provides the necessary capital to make needed investments. Does anyone want to suggest that the care from the Mayo Clinic is not good enough?
So what if some insurance company making a 30% margin suffers a business set back if the Govt provides the administration necessary to deliver health care at a 3% cost of administration? So what? We save 27%. If anyone wants to pay extra for extra coverage, trust me, the market will provide.
As for device manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms, OK, they take a risk and deliver unique goods. They must be rewarded with reasonable profits.
It is simply immoral to make a profit delivering health care. End the for-profit model in all insurance and in hospitals.
Since this article is about healthcare I would also say I’m not happy with the drug deal the white house worked out. The overall strategy is not bad because you mush have some industry groups on your side and I would much rather have the providers on your side rather than the private insurers but I though they could have got at least twice the concessions. While it was not practical to have negotiations in public we should hear more about the deal now.
My only pet peeve about the issue is when people say the white house is not negotiating prices when they did negotiate prices they just want the deal to stand. Bush negotiated nothing with Medicare Plan B so this is far different.
Congress can always negotiate their own deals it’s not like Obama is going to veto a bill that goes against his deal so I think a little too much is being made about it, especially since we first knew about the deal months ago.
There is a wild card here too, Congress can always override whatever deal Pres. Obama cut and he will have to sign it.
Maybe that’s what he would like to happen, it would be very clever to get the “enemy” of Health Care Reform on board because they think they’ve successfully undercut it then when the bill’s ready to sign, the compromises aren’t in it.
I don’t know if Obama is counting on that or not. Maybe he sees well down the road and is angling for what’s best for the people or maybe he’s willing to compromise what’s best for what’s easiest to pass.
We’ll find out…
We found out in the latest update that Big Pharma is now saying a deal was not finalized either. Shame on HP the guy they quoted Tauzen was is a right winger who wrote the Medicare Part B.
Basically he was the only one to confirm a deal but he had every reason to make the administration look bad.
Actually Michael more talked about him in Sicko.
Businesses which provide essential utilities government cannot supply, create innovation and are value added should make some profits. But healthcare insurance does not do a damn thing then take your money, pool it and pay out claims. There is nothing justifying profits at all for private insurance.
National Defense, infrastructure, education etc all essential and can be supplied by government. Energy is and example of an essential product that cannot be supplied by government especially when we import energy. Most hospitals should be non-profit but not all. Drug companies and medical device suppliers should be for profit because they rely on innovation, but they should be banned from advertising. It should be between you and your doctor based on your diagnosis what drugs you need. They should not be pushing them with billions of dollars in ads. Hospices, cancer care centers, doctors, nurses and technicians provide value added service and should profit individually and even in groups.
Indeed, the Health Care Industry is actually more of an obstacle to advancement of better health. They are a for-profit business, the less they can spend on innovative techniques and procedures which typically cost more than established methods which may not be as effective, the better for them.