A Bill Moyers Essay on the Influence of Money on the Health Care Debate
Bill Moyers weighs in on the appointment of Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General and the influence of money on the health care debate.
BILL MOYERS: This week, Regina Benjamin was nominated by President Obama to be our next surgeon general, charged with keeping the American public informed about our health. She's a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius Grant.'
But more important, she's a country doctor, a family physician along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, serving the poor and uninsured. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed her clinic a second time, she mortgaged her own home to rebuild it. The day it was to reopen, a fire burned the clinic to the ground. Moving to a trailer, Dr. Benjamin and her staff never missed a day of work. Dr. Benjamin will no doubt bring that same ethic to the fight for health care reform.
Many of the folks in Regina Benjamin's bayou town are so poor that sometimes she's paid with a pint of oysters or a couple of fish. She buys medicine for her patients out of her own pocket, and she makes house calls.
Now meet H. Edward Hanway, the Chairman and CEO of Cigna, the country's fourth largest insurance company. At the beginning of the year, Cigna blamed hard economic times when it announced the layoff of 1,100 employees. But it reported first quarter profits of $208 million on revenues of $4 billion. Mr. Hanway has announced his retirement at the end of the year, and the living will be easy, financially at least. He made $11.4 million dollars in 2008, according to the Associated Press, and some years more than that.
That's a lot of oysters, although he lags behind Ron Williams, the CEO of Aetna Insurance, who made more than $17 million dollars last year, or John Hammergren, the head of McKesson, the biggest health care company in the world. His compensation was nearly $30 million.
Here's the difference. To Dr. Regina Benjamin, health care is a service, helping people in need with grace and compassion. To Ed Hanway and his highly paid friends, it's big business, a commodity to be sold to those who can afford it. And woe to anyone who gets between them and the profits they reap from sick people.
That behavior includes spending nearly a million and a half a day--a day!--to make sure health care reform comes out their way. Over the years they've lavished millions on the politicians who are writing and voting on the bills coming out of committee. Now it's payback time. See for yourself here on our website, where you'll find a link to campaign contributions and the politicians who right now are deciding who wins and who loses the heath care debate.
That's it for the week. I'm Bill Moyers and I'll see you next time.
Greed is GOOD…
for the Oligarchs.
The revolution will not be televised.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Alice, you've read some of my comments.
And you mine.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Passing mash notes in class?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
You mean the revolution won't be part of the "situation room", or morning coffee shows?
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Fred Goldstein:
here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abQh1anE9lI&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
forget about it ain't gonna happen
influence of money.... on healthcare, financial reform, consumer safety, enviro regulations, immigration, energy policy, etc., etc., etc.
until the money spigot is turned off on the political class, our policies and regulations will always favor monied interests
the problem is that the vaaaaaaaaaaast majority of members from both factions (Dem&Rep) of the american political class are too dependent and expectant on their lobbyist sugar-daddies and their corporate pimps.
This is a big argument for campaign finance reform. The problem is that it costs sooo much just to run for one Senate or Congresssional seat that politicians are dependent on donations from corporations and rich people.
BTW, Dr. Regina Benjamin seems to be a really cool person - a real "mensch". I've never been religious, but I tend to be a little superstitious, and I think that first name, Regina, is a good omen. I'm in Canada, city of Regina, capital city of the province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is the birthplace of Canadian Medicare.
I really hope Dr. Benjamin lives up to people's hopes, and I wish her the best.
... only few and far between.
My late father-in-law ran a clinic that served the migrant farmworker community in Watsonville, CA. He would often receive payment in chickens, or a pay-as-you-can basis.
over that Gupta character which was Obama's top choice for a while. It feels much better to be surprised in a way which does not pop up the "WTF Obama?" question which has been getting a lot of play in my brain lately.
..Representatives in Congress and the Senate.
Let them know just how you feel and whether they should represent Big-Health with its deep pockets or the people who they were elected by!
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Americans are dying because of these people. Twenty-Three THOUSAND a year.
The money is nothing short of Obscene.
*
This doctor should be considered a hero. She got into the business for all the right reasons. What an amazing story. The insurance companies are truly sinful if there are such things as sins. I want this lady between me and my doctor (and yes she does represent the govt, but she shows she understands and cares), not an insurance company. Thank you very much.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Having someone between you and your doctor(s), also known as "rationing", isn't necessarily a bad thing. The system has grown to favor quantity over quality - more specialists, more procedures, more tests - and every unnecessary procedure introduces both cost and risk.
Maybe someday we'll spend more time emphasizing prevention and coordinated care relying on surgical procedures as a last resort. Until then, standardizing care and having some kind of layer (perhaps just a trusted general practitioner) between you and the wolves (specialists) might be seen as a benefit.
Don't get me started on the insurance companies..
The trend towards more tests, procedures, and "unnecessary procedures" isn't just the fault of doctors and patients. The problem is a society that loves litigation. Medical facilities and practitioners have to do many those "unnecessary procedures" to protect themselves from lawsuits. There's a reason that doctors have to pay sky-high malpractice insurance premiums.
One argument against Canadian-style universal health care is the concern that people will "abuse the system" by going to the doctor for every little ache, pain, and perceived condition. Okay, there are a small number of hypochondriacs who insist on unnecessary exams, tests, and procedures. But under the American system, where millions have inadequate or no health care insurance, lots of people who can't afford health care put off going to the doctor until their conditions are really serious and cost way more to treat.
I'm Canadian, and I've read a lot of articles on this stuff. I don't remember the numbers, but there isn't that much abuse, honest! BTW, in Canada we already have that "layer" of a GP between you and the specialists. In most cases, you have to have a referral from your GP to see a specialist.
For example, back in 1992, when I found a lump in my breast, I had to go to my GP first before I could see the specialist. (P.S. - The lump turned out to be benign.)
Just so you know, nobody had to contact any bureaucrat, government or private, to get permission for the exams, biopsy surgery, or testing that I needed. Ya hear that, Newt? The government does not stand between me and my doctor!
I have clicked on that link to see which insurance companies gave contributions to whom and each time I do, it disconnects me from the internet. This has happened six times, so I'm giving up.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
these insurance chiefs... and thank goodness for people like Regina Benjamin! She's the real hero here; the insurance CEOs collecting all this money for not giving anything to those who've paid their premiums are not. Racking up a pile of cash doesn't make you somebody... it's usually done at someone else's expense... in this case, millions of someone elses...
PissedOffPatricia...
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07172009/wa...
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/pr...
How many people were denied insurance for this money? How many had their coverage canceled, or claims denied? How many kids didn't get treatment that would help them grow up healthy? How many people went bankrupt to pay for medical care?
How many died? One million dollars a day - how many lives has it cost? How many more if they succeed in stopping health care reform one more time?
Instead of gangs going after one another, they need to find some insurance CEOs and industry lobbyists. Don't shoot up the hospital emergency rooms, go after the real people who maim and kill--insurance companies.
I hope that Ms. Benjamin makes Surgeon General. She knows what it takes to be a real doctor. Not some AMA quack whose only concern is how he/she will bring in that dough for the summer lake homes and brand new Jags.
$30 million and the health care benefits are TERRIFIC!! You know.. once upon a time, I'll betcha the CEO's and presidents of all these top health insurance companies didn't make "greedy whore" money.
MCKESSON MEDICAL-SURGICAL INC
Oct 01, 1997 to present
[ http://www.lni.wa.gov/ClaimsIns/Insurance/Sel... ]
Was it their inclusion in the 14th Amendment that hurt us? The one about person hood or civil rights... that one?
Study the symptoms not the virus...
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CAPABILTY TO SAY IT ANY BETTER.
LOBBYING MUST BE STOPPED TO ENABLE THE PEOPLE TO GAIN CONTROL OF WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WILL HAPPEN TO OUR COUNTRY IN THE FUTURE.
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