HMO and Pharmaceutical Companies: The REAL Sickos

"Keeping people hopeless and pessimistic - see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them. An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern."*

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up a refill only to find that my health insurance denied it. I was downsized last month but paid my premium for COBRA so I have no idea what their excuse is this time.


As it just so happens, I caught Michael Moore's most recent documentary, Sicko, at the cinema this weekend. Essentially, the documentary depicts the saga of those of us who pay into our insurance only to get denied care when we need it most.

With his usual dramatic-but-realistic fare, Moore gives a history of how the HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) came into being when the government realized that more money could be made from less care. As a result, many citizens who have worked and paid into health insurance have died due to denial of care.

Brilliantly, he pointed out how well other countries fare much better than the United States with their government-based health care systems. France goes so far as to not only pay new mothers to stay at home but also plays for a person to come in and laundry and other household chores.

In one example, an American man who had two fingertips cut off was given the option of paying $16K for one finger or $60K for the other. He could not afford both so he chose the lesser. There was no insurance to cover either. In contrast, a Canadian man who lost all his fingers had all of them repaired for the cost of $0.

Then, of course, there's the popular example of 9-11 terrorist survivors not getting care in the US but being taken to Havana, Cuba, to receive free quality care.

I'm torn between moving to France versus staying in America to try and help fix these issues. However, what can I do? Can you imagine what type of radical moves it would take to overturn the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies? Being as they have grown so huge, I'm not sure what can be done. I suppose the first thing that I need to do is get a refund from my health insurance payment since I've already paid half of that amount for out-of-pocket medical care and pharmacy.

americanhealthcarereform.org

*Tony Benn