Publicly funded health care is solution to eliminating corporate medical greed
We need to change our health care system to Medicare for All, because our current system is in crisis. The cost of health care has risen rapidly and many people can’t afford it, even with insurance. Health care is a basic human need. It should be available to everyone. The United States is a rich, developed country but its health care system is broken and fragmented. We have the most complicated and expensive health care in the world.
My friend Melinda is a single mother who earns barely above minimum wage. She has health insurance. But each time Melinda takes her daughter to a doctor, she has co-payment of $70, which is expensive. Melinda has medical problems herself, but can’t see a doctor because she can’t afford the co-payment.
The mother of an 8-year old boy in the Midwest couldn’t afford to take him to a dentist. This boy died because his untreated toothache grew into a brain abscess that killed him. His mother had health insurance but it didn’t cover dental health. Apparently, teeth are not considered part of our body by the insurance companies.
Then there's the young woman in Nevada who was denied care for a blood clot in her leg because the hospital said she didn’t have insurance — even though she actually did. She died.
More than 1,600 insurance companies increase health care costs through high overheads, mountains of paperwork, prior approvals for care, expensive advertising and executives' million-dollar salaries. And they make billions of dollars in profits.
Corporate greed has no place in health care justice.
Despite the Affordable Care Act, health care costs are out of control with ever-increasing premiums, co-payments, high deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. Diabetics die because they can’t afford insulin, often close to $400 a month (although some companies have enacted $35 monthly caps). When people cannot afford needed care, they delay it or skip preventive care, needed tests or prescription drugs. They get sicker. Care delayed is care denied and many suffer and die. I have lost very dear friends because their cancer was detected too late to be treated.
Meanwhile, the health care industrial complex continues to generate huge profits. Insurance companies are not doctors but they often control our health by not paying for necessary care. This causes pain, suffering, death and medical debt and bankruptcy when patients have to pay for lifesaving care out of pocket. Insurance companies also create networks that dictate what hospitals and providers patients can use.
A woman in New York City received a heart transplant. As she was recovering, she a received a bill for $60,000. Because her surgeon was not in the insurance company’s network, it wouldn’t cover the operation that saved her life.
Private insurance companies are only in it for the money. They earn it by denying care and charging high costs to patients. Hospitals also contribute to making health care unaffordable. They're not clear about their costs and billing practices. They charge all they can to make a profit for their corporate owners.
Patients often receive surprise bills. A woman went to the emergency room and was billed $6,000 for no treatment other than receiving an ice pack. Hospitals require massive billing departments. More than 500 people work in the billing department at Mass General Brigham.
Hospitals cut corners and put patient safety at risk. St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton is owned by the Steward Health Care, whose CEO reportedly owns two multimillion-dollar yachts and a private jet. The death last October of Sungida Rashid at that hospital is heavy on my mind and heart. She developed severe bleeding after she gave birth to her daughter. She died because the medical supplies needed to save her life were not available. They had been repossessed by the vendor because its bill had not been paid. This is a tragic example of how corporate greed leads to death.
We need to take the profit out of health care. Medicare for All is the solution to our health care crisis. Medicare for All is health care for all. It will create a system of publicly funded health care that would be affordable and cover all of our medical needs. No one will be denied medical care or the prescriptions they need. Medicare for All will cover all health care needs, including dental, vision and reproductive health. No one will die because they can’t see a dentist to treat a toothache.
Improved Medicare for All is efficient, simple and eliminates administrative waste and corporate greed. Canada has Medicare for All. It is affordable and Canadians are healthier and have a longer life expectancy than us. Ask your legislators to vote for Medicare for All and make it the law of the land.
It’s a matter of life and death.
Maria Termini is an artist, activist and public speaker. She has worked with Habitat for Humanity and served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Bolivia. She works with Mass Care and Healthcare Now. She welcomes your comments and can be contacted at mariatermini2013@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Brookline woman writes to endorse Medicare for All to become law
