HEALTHCARE/UNITED STATES

So Now We Are Murdering CEO’s in Broad Daylight?

Is this another symptom of the end stage of capitalism?

Health insurance companies are the gatekeepers to healthcare in the United States, where we spend more on care than any other developed nation. Photo by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash

I’ve got a cold. I’ve had it for over two weeks, and the cough is unrelenting. I can’t sleep, and I’ve developed chest pain, too. But I’ve held off going to the doctor. Even with insurance, I can’t afford it.

Does this story sound familiar?

How about from the side of a clinician? You have a patient who will benefit from a certain drug new to the market, but it’s not on the formulary for his insurance company. Coverage denied. Or you have a patient who desperately needs inpatient rehab, but their insurance company will only approve home health, but since the patient lives alone and and is not independent, this would be a dangerous plan. What happens in these cases? People die. That’s what.

In the same week that the CEO of the largest health insurance company in America was murdered, another declared that they would stop paying for anesthesia in some states if certain surgeries ran too long. The backlash was so swift that Anthem reversed its decision before the week was done.