by B. Maloney
Americans continue struggling to improve labor laws, create well-paying jobs, and improve health outcomes within our healthcare systems. Largely responsible for this struggle is for-profit healthcare and corporate monopolies, who through their endless greed have positioned themselves in opposition against the American people.
The lack of antitrust laws being utilized to dismantle these monopolies and absence of the enforcement of regulation to private sector power within the health industry is nefarious. The government has proven itself incapable of protecting citizens against oppression from corporate gluttony. Non-elected groups that create health industry policy and behavior have a dominant interest in profit and little responsibility to public health. Ruthless and devastating in approach, the goal appears to be profit by any means necessary. They measure success by shareholder returns, funneling as much money as possible into their own pockets. It is extremely telling that for the health industry, success is not measured by expanding quality and lifesaving care without barriers to all citizens.
The for-profit health insurance industry is obscenely cumbersome, costly, and cruel to the people it pretends to serve. In a sector as impactful and critical as healthcare, it is unconscionable to continue to allow companies to uphold and design systems that profit from medical debt and bankruptcy. Making money off of denying claims for lifesaving procedures is violent. Profiting from medical debt and bankruptcy is violent. Benefiting from exorbitant medical costs and creating high rates of homelessness is violent. Allowing power and billions of dollars to be consolidated in the hands of a few is violent.
Violence is a lucrative business in America, and it comes at our expense. Together, Americans can defeat corporate violence and ensure everyone has access to care. We need Medicare for All, we need to abolish the private health insurance industry: no one should have to pay for healthcare.
Highlights from health insurance/care companies 2024 third quarter Public Earnings Results:
- UnitedHealth Group returned over $9.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and had revenues of $100.8 billion
- Elevance Health returned over $3.1 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and had revenues of $44.7 billion
- Cigna had revenues of $63.7 billion
- HCA Healthcare had revenues of $17.487 billion
- McKesson had revenues of $80.9 billion
- CVS Health had revenues of $95.4 billion