Our Medical Industrial Complex is out of control, and we know it by looking at the cost of healthcare, drugs, health insurance, and hospital stays. The system is scaring us and there is nothing we can do about it. Adam Smith warned us about the risks of big business and industry approaching government in an incestuous relationship, and well, that’s exactly what happened.
All these problems did not happen overnight, call it a comedy of errors, or rather a comedy of corruption that has brought us to where we are today. And, let’s not shoot the messenger here, but rather spend a few minutes discussing all of this.
We see the growth of HMOs thanks to favorable laws created to help large campaign contributors. Then we saw the consolidation of the industry. We saw HIPAA laws put smaller systems and hospitals out of business, unable to meet new mandates or afford huge IT systems. Why? Well, Silicon Valley donors wanted to sell more enterprise software and hardware, and the major players in the hospital sector loved the idea, as it would provide more barriers to entry as the bigwigs grew and gained more political power.
The Medical Industrial Complex continued to grow when Bush II signed the senior drug coverage law into law. The Pharmaceutical Industry never had it better, the government became its best customer, one with unlimited funds.
The Obama administration introduced an “ObamaCare” plan that would essentially ensure that anyone who couldn’t afford health insurance would have the medical services or medications they needed, for FREE. Well, it was not free, remember that almost all private insurance plans had a 200% increase in the cost to pay for all free people. It was amazing how many doctor visits, medical services, and pharmaceutical drugs that doctors and their patients could find as they ‘needed’.
Okay, these are just some of the things that made the medical industrial complex so powerful. Today, while the Corona virus is wreaking havoc, we see hospitals complaining that they could be overrun and collapse because they don’t have enough protective equipment, medical staff or ventilators. It is claimed that they were not prepared for this Corona Virus or a similar race for the need of ICU beds or ventilators. But why not?
These healthcare organizations have been overcharging us for decades, they have deep pockets to buy what they need and global supply chains. Suddenly they can’t handle a pandemic? Why do we need the medical industrial complex if it can’t function? Instead, they need help from the government. Do they want monetary support and for the government to pay for their equipment and supplies? WHAT? Why?
Because supposedly they could never have anticipated such a global pandemic? Really, I mean, over the years I’ve read a lot of reports stating that ‘it’s not if, but when’ a pandemic will hit us. Why didn’t they prepare, why didn’t they have provisions in stock? Think how much money they have taken from customers, patients and clients? How much money have they received from the government for taking care of people’s health, or how much have they soaked up from the health insurance companies that have passed that cost, and more to all of us?
WHY?