Parija Kavilanz has a story on CNN today about doctors going broke.
And they're going broke alright. The little guys who run their offices like independent businesses are getting the screw-over from both ends.
On the government side, what's covered under medicare and medicade seems to be shrinking month by month. On the other side, the prices for routine stuff they've always passed on to patients at or near cost is skyrocketing.
And the one constant is that liability insurance premiums can be counted on to go up year after year.
Let's take a step back here and try to focus on the big picture. Who is putting the squeeze on your local clinic?
Insurers. Insurance companies have to make money. Otherwise they won't be around. Private health insurance companies have a dilema. Every penny they spend on your cancer treatment is a penny taken away from their bottom line. And they care way more about that bottom line than they care about your cancer treatment.
Not because they're nasty people. Just because without a profit, they'd all be unemployed.
Drug companies. Back in the day the medicine man got his power from being able to offer up concoctions that made sick people better. Or promise to. Today the new medicine men, the pharmaceutical companies, get their power from being able to offer up concoctions that make sick people better. Or promise to.
Power today is measured in dollars. The drug companies want to maximize their power. You've got cancer. We've got the miracle drug. What are you willing to pay?
There's the reason your friendly neighborhood clinic is going bankrupt. They're caught in the squeeze as the big players in the health care business maximize their profits.
Step back a bit and ask yourself this question: should health care ever be about maximizing profits?
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