The People of the United States of America vs. The Health Insurance Industry

Dear Politicians, CEOs, and People of Influence and Power in Our Great Disunited States,

Capitalism only works with a free and fair market. I start my piece with this because we live in a world of labels and boxes. I’ll be labeled as a Marxist, socialist, and whatever other derogatory terms to try to paint a broad picture of me because I went to college or what I liked on Reddit. Most human beings are more complex than that. So are problems. I am a flawed man, but my thoughts are not. My ideas are progressive and rational based in ethics and humanity, which used to be called good ol’ fashion American values.

Capitalism only works if greed and corruption are eliminated. Our country is rotting with these parasites. Unfortunately, things won’t change until poor people start winning elections, but that’s a conversation for another time.

I’m here to formally charge the health insurance industry with crimes against the United States of America and its citizens.

The charges are:

• Operating as an Oligopoly
• Obstruction of Competition (State-Based Barriers)
• Price Gouging
• Antitrust Violations
• Fraud and Misrepresentation
• Corporate Manslaughter (Negligence)
• Breach of Contract
• Bad Faith Insurance Practices
• False Claims Act Violations
• Consumer Protection Violations
• Unjust Enrichment
• Obstruction of Healthcare Reform
• Exploitation of Public Health Systems
• Deceptive Trade Practices
• Systemic Discrimination in Claim Approvals
• Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
• Denial of Duty of Care

While I wish I could spell out each charge individually, I am a writer, not a lawyer. This piece is meant to continue the conversation to force this anti-American industry to answer for its crimes against American citizens. There are research, legal precedents, and experts who can further elaborate on these charges better than me. If you can help spell things out more, please help strengthen my case with an email or comment.

The Health Insurance Industry Has Operated as an Oligopoly

Ever play Monopoly?

Buy as much shit as you can, jack up the prices, and make the other players go broke? I’d flip the board and fist fight my much stronger brother as he mocked my misfortune at his expense. That’s how the healthcare industry operates, but somehow worse! It’s called an oligopoly, which is anti-free market, anti-capitalist, and anti-American.

An oligopoly is when a small number of big companies control most of the market, working together to limit competition. Health insurance companies generate revenue through premiums and manage costs by denying claims when deemed outside policy terms. A portion of these profits would go to shareholders and lobbying efforts.

In 2024, the health insurance allocated around $117.3 million to lobbying efforts in the first three quarters! How’d that get that much extra cash? What would health insurance companies lobby for? What have they lobbied for in the past?

According to public records and reporting, health insurance companies lobby to oppose public healthcare options like “Medicare for All”, influence laws to reduce oversight, limit consumer protections, increase premiums, lobby for tax breaks, push for favorable regulations, approval of mergers that consolidate market power, while fighting against laws that would make it easier for patients to sue over denied claims.

And if the lobbying doesn’t work, the health insurance industry also contributes to political campaigns. I wonder why they’d do such a thing… because they believe in the cause? Yeah, self-interest. Perhaps we should investigate campaign donations from health insurance companies and executives and see if that might influence how politicians view the health insurance industry.

Imagine using your customers’ money to influence policy against their interests (in this case their health and wealth) to charge them more money and deny them more frequently for services they pay for with the decisions affecting the everyday life of said customers, sometimes whether they live or die.

Monopoly, but worse.

Overpriced Treatments and Drugs

Competitive pricing is what makes capitalism work. Who can make the best prices at the cheapest for products that are in demand, right? If not many people have access to an item, a business will charge more, which is fine unless you’re talking about basic American rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Hard to do any of that when you can’t afford treatment or are denied care.

That’s why the disparity in prescription drug prices between the United States and other developed nations makes no sense, especially for essential medications like insulin and inhalers.

Insulin (per unit)

• United States: $98.70
• Canada: $12
• Germany: $11
• Japan: $14
• Turkey: $3

Inhalers (single inhaler):

• United States: $50 to $100 (depending on the brand and insurance coverage)
• United Kingdom: FREE to $8 (often provided at no cost through the National Health Service)
• Australia: $6 with subsidies reducing the cost further for eligible patients.

Anticoagulants (e.g., Xarelto — month supply)

• United States: $500
• Germany: $100
• Australia: $50 (with government subsidies further reducing the cost)

Antidepressants (month supply)

• United States: $200
• France: $30
• Spain: $20

Drug prices in America are excessively higher than the rest of the developed world. On the global price market, the United States isn’t competitive at all. Shouldn’t a free and fair market be comparable to global prices? Overpricing essential medications and treatments is exploitative of vulnerable populations, and unethical if not outright illegal under price gouging or antitrust laws.

I know the counterargument; the sample size is limited and cherry-picked data. Well, I only have a certain number of words, so do your own research. Most of it lines up with these figures regardless of drug. Further, the price markups might explain the overpaid salaries and inflated wealth of the health insurance industry.

Profits Made for Denials

Denying claims puts money first, not patients. Every denied claim means the insurer avoids paying out money for medical services. Since insurers collect premiums upfront, the fewer claims they approve, the more they retain as profit.

In 2007, Nataline Sarkisyan, a seventeen-year-old was denied lifesaving treatment because it was deemed “experimental,” even though it was a widely accepted medical practice. The public demanded the claim be reversed. Doctors recommended the treatment. Too bad the approval came too late, and a 17-year-old-girl passed away before getting a new liver.

If one CEO’s death is worth two weeks of press, why isn’t Nataline Sarkisyan a household name? Her life was cut way too short due to complete and utter failure by the health insurance industry. Where were the op-eds from leaders and journalists when she died? There was no outrage for her or any of the 45,000 people who die a year related to a lack of health insurance.

Brian Thompson’s murder was worse than Nataline because someone pulled a trigger? No. It’s because we witnessed it with our eyes.

Death is tragic. Always. Our over dependence on our sight is blinding us. A rich guy being gunned down on the way to work Is not more horrifying than a teenager slowly and painfully decaying with treatment available, but inaccessible. That’s negligence and/or corporate manslaughter by the health insurance industry. And that’s just one reported example.

America’s Health Insurance Industry Caused a Public Health Emergency

I’d argue that health insurance companies offer a public service, and their services are a matter of public health. Not only has the health insurance industry defrauded the American people, but also the American government. Whether knowingly or not, the policies and business practices of the health insurance industry pose a threat to the health and wealth of Americans.

• In 2024, the average health insurance premium for families was $25,572 per year, marking a 6% increase from the previous year.
• Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt, with about 3 million people (1% of adults) owing more than $10,000.
• U.S. prescription drug prices are 2.78 times those in 33 other countries. For brand-name drugs, U.S. prices are 4.22 times higher.
• Medical bills contribute to 66.5% of all bankruptcies, affecting over 500,000 families annually.
• At least 45,000 Americans die a year related to a lack of health insurance.

The top companies in the health insurance company netted $70.7 billion in net profits last year. They need to answer why medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in America but nowhere else in the world. Why are our drug prices so much higher than in the rest of the developed world? Aren’t we the wealthiest and best nation ever?

Lobbying dollars have increased. Costs of services to Americans have increased. CEO and shareholder profits have increased. Denial of claims has increased. American deaths tied to a lack of health insurance have increased. Policies to prevent change aren’t being discussed as our policymakers further allow the monopolization of the health insurance industry by companies such as United Health.

Let’s connect the dots.

Using profits from denying healthcare services to Americans to influence policy to maximize your own profits? That seems like cheating to me. And highly illegal. If it’s not, it should be. At the very least it’s unethical. Why can an industry influence the policies in their industry with lobbying? That’s not something a free market would tolerate. Lobbying, like health insurance, cuts out the everyday American and our needs as citizens of this nation.

The health insurance industry is a disgrace to the United States of America and capitalism. No question. But this is much more than that.

This is an emergency.

At least 45,000 Americans die from a lack of health insurance per year in the United States of America. That’s more than 1.6 million preventable deaths during my lifetime simply because the person lacked insurance. Imagine if 45,000 CEOs died a year from cancer? Or if 45,000 athletes from concussions? Think laws and policies would change? Why is it when poor people die no one bats an eye?

In America, we trade lives and treatment to create and monopolize Americans’ medical care, aka their quality of life and actual life, which fuels one of the biggest industries in the world. If you won’t accept those charges, at least admit that. Be honest with yourselves and the American public.

God Bless those who died, who fought, and continue to fight so I can type on a computer and tell a whole industry to go fuck itself.

Now I need to find a lawyer.