51–60 of 206 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Large hospitals systems have been forming regional monopolies for the last few decades. First they would buy other hospitals to increase negotiating leverage with insurers, then they started buying outpatient clinics to control patient flow. They can also increase the amount they charge at outpatient clinics once the larger hospital system buys them. Hospital spend represents 30% of US healthcare spend, and physician…
Healthcare stocks comprise a not insignificant part of many Americans' 401k portfolios, the downstream economic effects of dismantling healthcare would extend way beyond the hospital/pharma industry.
If we prevent the preventable those resources can be used for the unpreventable. But if overall demand drops, so will price/cost.
I know a medical provider who works for a small family medicine practice recently purchased by a large hospital group in our area. They're being told, "You guys need to be sending more people to our hospitals." So for these organizations, patients who are sick and suffering are seen as a product. A day of reckoning is coming for these organizations because the sick and suffering are getting fed up with being treated…
This is true even in a socialized system like the military or VA, where the folks in leadership positions are seen in their own system. And that saves money, in no small part by reducing the amount of testing, improving continuity of documentation, etc. That savings doesn't just pad some executive's bank account. It makes it easier to give the nurses a raise, or keep a few more on staff through a recession. Makes it easier to buy that new 3 Tesla MRI for better resolution imaging, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it obvious? I went to a fancy Japanese dinner last night. It was, obviously, a for-profit venture. At any point during that dinner, was anyone in the restaurant worried about the restaurant putting its "profits" above its patrons?
They weren't worried about it, but it was happening anyway.
It maybe is obvious, or maybe it's controversial, but patients will never be put before profits by for profit corporations.
Is it obvious? I went to a fancy Japanese dinner last night. It was, obviously, a for-profit venture. At any point during that dinner, was anyone in the restaurant worried about the restaurant putting its "profits" above its patrons?
This can be done by converting "for profit" corporations into "not for profit" corporations and having them finance investments with debt instead of equity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Healthcare stocks comprise a not insignificant part of many Americans' 401k portfolios, the downstream economic effects of dismantling healthcare would extend way beyond the hospital/pharma industry.
That 401k isn't going to be very useful if you can't afford healthcare.