Tuesday, October 16, 2012

How Has Competition in Healthcare Worked Out?


The Milwaukee newspaper, no doubt, gets way more letters from readers than it can possibly publish. That probably explains why the letter below, which I sent on Monday, Oct. 8, wasn't published. Surely, it couldn't be because I criticized the newspaper. Here, for anyone who follows this blog is what I wrote. 

The Journal Sentinel's top Page 1 news story today is that Mitt Romney "supports competition in healthcare". Given that the cost of healthcare has skyrocketed and access to healthcare has shrunk for a vast number of Americans ever since Richard Nixon opened the door to for-profit HMOs and hospitals back in 1971, I have to ask, "How did that 'competition in healthcare' thingy work out for us?" Medicare is the only healthcare program/plan that isn't a disaster. The people who have benefited financially are healthcare industry, including insurance, CEOs and shareholders. The only competition in healthcare for insurance companies is to get more of our money, not in providing better or more affordable coverage. Obamacare is showing real benefits, financially and otherwise, for many Americans, including those on Medicare for whom much less costly annual physicals are now covered before potentially catastrophic illnesses take hold that need highly expensive--and often--ineffective or inadequate treatment. The vast majority of Americans can't afford Romney's idea of returning to the good old days of "competition in healthcare" that has left so many in this country in financial ruin and some even dead.

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