Healthcare
Our healthcare insurance and services are not meeting the needs of the American people. Millions of people across the country are one sickness or accident away from financial ruin. This should not be the case for one of the wealthiest countries in the world. I will work to address these injustices and seek to reform this industry to benefit the people, not the donors guiding the policy decisions. I support a nationalized healthcare system, but realize the realities of attaining this face significant headwinds. Until we are able to do so, I will seek to eliminate the unjust profiteering off the backs of the American people, and ensure their hard earned dollars are for the care they seek, and not lining the pockets of executives and shareholders.
The costs of our healthcare insurance and providers continue to skyrocket unabated. In my view, this is not due to a lack of competition, as many contend. Rather, it is due to the misguided policies instituted by our elected representatives, prioritizing the interests of their largest donors, and not those of the American people.
In 2023, the Health Sector Lobby contributed $745,396,217 , and ranked as the largest lobby in our federal government. This infusion of capital is not intended for the benefit of the American people, who rely on these critical services, rather it is to ensure the exorbitant profits of this industry are sustained and continue to grow.
An additional significant contributor to this calamity, is the increasing position of Private Equity (PE) in our hospitals, nursing homes, home care settings, and physician practices. Large financial institutions, with little to no knowledge or experience operating healthcare facilities/organizations, aggressively pursue profits, disregarding the intended purpose of the facilities to provide healthcare services.
This is accomplished by creating complicated financial structures involving debt, collateral, and additional loans, to be leveraged against the facility/organization. The result is a catastrophic situation where the facility is left saddled with debt which did not exist before and the facility is forced to cut staff and operating costs while the PE firm realizes significant profits.
Another approach is for a PE firm to buy a facility and re-sell it for a profit. To maximize profits, the PE firm must demonstrate the profitability of the organization recently acquired. This is done by cutting costs (staff, operating, etc.) and raising prices.
While we continue to pay more for less, we’re contributing to the millions of dollars of profits realized by health insurance CEO’s, with the Molina Healthcare CEO taking in a handsome $22,131,256. The increasing costs we pay are not benefiting us in any way and the health of this nation is suffering.
I support a nationalized healthcare system. This would eliminate the mass sums of capital currently being wasted on unproductive, unnecessary means which provide no benefit to our healthcare costs or services. While many people express concern with this approach resulting in a shortage of services. I would point out, the current structure of health insurance and the infiltration of PE in our healthcare services, has already accomplished that. As this current system continues, the justification of continued support for rising costs and declining care is becoming more difficult to justify.
I look forward to engaging with the constituents of WA-3 and learning what you might have to say.