American Healthcare: Profits Killing Patients, Lobbyists Killing Reform

What have I contributed to society? A handful of bad takes, a dozen broken hearts, and a shit ton of waste. But the world spins on, with or without me, getting worse and worse. Everyone can feel it, but nobody says anything. I’m chained to a desk trying to survive, justifying my inaction. I’ve spent my entire life being silent. Holding back what I see, what I’ve experienced, and what I fear. I can’t do it anymore. Things are too fucked up.

Writers aren’t having the uncomfortable conversations they need to. The news is focusing the coverage on the shooter and uncovering who he is. Why would a young, smart, attractive man throw his life away? Was he an indoctrinated educated liberal who went radical? Did he have an axe to grind? Why was he turned in? Who snitched? The McDonald’s where the shooter was detained received thousands of negative reviews after the location became public. Once again, we’re having the wrong conversations, trying to paint this tragedy in a light that fits our view of the world rather than reality. As citizens of America, we are being abused by corporations, suits, and politicians, and have been for decades. I’ve been abused most of my life. I know it when I see it.

Our world is on fire. We can continue to stick our eyes in front of our screens, but how much longer can we ignore the glaring issues with our society? More violent crime. More desperate people. Stop hiding. People with opposite political views are not your enemy. Violence will only cause more unnecessary loss of life. But we can inspire change. This is our moment to stand up for what’s right. The hatred for the elite is justified. They’ve played a major role in the current state of our republic, but they aren’t the ones to blame. We are. We distract ourselves with technology, games, work, activity… too busy to pay attention to what’s being going on.

“Well, I can’t do anything, so I’ll just enjoy my life the best I can.”

We need to move past this selfish behavior. If not, what makes us any different from Brian Thompson or any other CEO looking at human lives as numbers on a spreadsheet? Sure, he looked at procedures and cost, giving himself and other executives enough cognitive dissonance to not connect the dots of what his policies would do to Americans. Executives in health insurance can write off claim denials as profits gains even when it’s assisted murder. “We didn’t kill this person; we just couldn’t provide them the care they needed because they’re broke and not sick enough.” Brian Thompson was a product of the corrupt, money-driven American system. Was he inherently evil? Probably not. As humans, we can justify our actions to ourselves. We’re never the bad guy in our minds. I didn’t know Brian Thompson, but the company he ran has thousands of deaths on their hands. That’s evil. How is that legal? How is it allowed? How can any elected official allow health insurance companies to operate like this? Why have they?

Simple.

Follow the money.

In the 2024 election cycle, the parent group of UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group contributed over $4 million to federal candidates and parties. They also spent $5,860,000 on lobbying efforts in 2024. In the first half of 2024, Blue Cross Blue Shield spent $14.5 million on lobbying activities. America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a trade association representing health insurers, spent $9,160,000 on lobbying in 2024. Cigna reported $6,830,000 in lobbying expenditures for 2024.

These figures? That’s how much Americans health is being sold out for. The value of our lives to our policy makers. Millions of dollars in exchange for the death of thousands of Americans lives every year.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, 35,327 to 44,789 people between the ages of 18 and 64 in the U.S. die each year because they lack health insurance. I wonder how much higher that number would be if it included all Americans. Even crazier, that study was conducted in 2009. I couldn’t find any recent data around this, but I also suck at finding things aka research. Why hasn’t there been any more comprehensive studies? I wonder if these healthcare insurance companies are lobbying for no studies or committees that could paint healthcare insurance in a “negative light.” Why are politicians taking donations from these companies? Are healthcare insurance company lobbying dollars beneficial to Americans or the insurance companies?

Well, there are public records and great reporting on this. (Way to go, media, especially you Dylan Scott at Vox.)

Here’s what health insurance companies lobby for blocking reform (oppose public healthcare options like "Medicare for All" to preserve their dominance), shaping policy (influence laws to reduce oversight, limit consumer protections, and increase premiums), profit protection (lobby for tax breaks, favorable regulations, and mergers that consolidate market power), and restricting accountability (fight against laws that would make it easier for patients to sue over denied claims.)

Talk about a conflict of interest.

Fuck over Americans and pay off politicians to preserve profits for needy, greedy executive board members and shareholders. Millions of dollars are taken from Americans’ pockets for healthcare are being spent against their interests to protect the bottom lines of corporations that deny care, drive up costs, and leave thousands to die every year from lack of insurance. What a business model.

Stop letting people die. It’s unAmerican and not what a healthy, stable, and intelligent country does. A bunch of death merchants clutching their pearls as the country burns around them. Is that the American legacy our leaders and CEOs want to leave?

Beefing up security shows how out of touch executives are from the rest of us. There’s not going to suddenly be a CEO killing spree. And there shouldn’t be. Wake up and get out of your ivory tower, suits. Engage the population and do things that help them, not just you. It shouldn’t have to take a man being murdered in the streets to talk about healthcare reform. It’s not a red or blue issue. It’s a human one.

We don’t need any more committees or investigations in Congress. Maybe before spending billions of taxpayers’ money on bombs for Ukraine, we should make sure the taxpayers aren’t dead? Are they able to afford to be alive? Or is that not what a responsible government does? My understanding was the American government was elected by the people for the people. That means doing our will, not taking money from companies that are killing us. Perhaps our politicians need to start having the same healthcare insurance plans as their constituents. That’s fair. Let them lose a loved one or live the rest of their life in pain after being denied care. I bet that would get reform done real quick.

Fix our healthcare system. Stop taking donations from health insurance companies. That’s blood money. It shouldn’t have to take a man being murdered in the streets to talk about this. We don’t need violence or chaos, but reform. Until there’s change, I won’t stop writing.