The common cow. In the best of circumstances all of a cow’s needs are met from birth to the final reckoning by businesspeople who shell out real money to maintain its good health, and fatten it up before the final knife. There are many expenses involved before the big payoff, when the fully grown bovine amiably strolls into the slaughterhouse.
Now imagine, if you will, that same cow having to pay for its own feed and medical services out of its cowshit minimum wage while doing all the work. Basically, the industrial rancher would be paid for the cow to serve him its entire life. Wouldn’t even need to send the cow to the slaughterhouse. The cow just pays the last of its wages for a few shots of morphine at the end and is buried to fertilize where the next cow will grow its own feed.
It’s the perfect market, for the industrial rancher.
It’s the perfect market for the American Healthcare system.
Now, instead of the lowly cow, imagine that you are the profit center for the delightful American For-Profit Healthcare system.
From the moment you are born, from before you are born, the insurance companies, the for-profit hospitals, the pharmaceutical companies, take 20%, 30% off the top from every dime spent, on every transaction, for your medical care and well being. X-rays, vitamins, consultations, money goes through the insurance companies (who encourage price gouging in order to continue to raise their rates and skim their sometimes set percentage from a higher gross), to the hospital administrators (who enjoy all the benefits of interlocking boards of directors), to the pharmaceutical companies (get as much from the healthy, sick, and dying as a docile government will allow), eventually dropping a set fee on your friendly neighborhood MD.
Every day for the rest of your life you will pay a fee to the For-Profit Medical Establishment so they do not withhold life saving drugs and procedures. Don’t think for a second that you will ever work for yourself. You are working for them. They are literally holding a scalpel to your throat. Don’t assume for a second that the present horrific situation is as bad as it will get. There is a distinct possibility of things becoming much, much worse.
Imagine, for a moment, if all the members of the For-Profit Medical Establishment had their way and could charge as much as they wanted, as their brothers and sisters in the pharmaceutical companies already do. Hospitals would be able to demand as much as they wished, because the insurance companies profit each time the hospitals charges more since they get to charge higher premiums owing to increased expense. And the insurance companies are supposed to control costs! Whoopsy! It’s such a lovely racket. Whoopsy! It’s already happening. But now that everyone has to have insurance, where is next quarter’s profit increase coming from?
Right now hospitals all over the United States are performing useless, expensive procedures on the terminally ill in order to inflate their bottom line. This type of scam will continue and spread, given the for-profit nature of our Healtchcare establishment. There is a distinct disincentive to control costs. It’s only going to get worse. Much worse.
Similar to the way Capitalism doesn’t care one way or another whether a product is produced using slave labor or not, a For-Profit Healthcare system doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the health and well being of any individual. It’s For-Profit, you moron, it’s not For-Humanity. If a For-Profit hospital could get away with it, they’d hang the terminally ill up on a hook in cold storage, barely keeping them alive, and perform every outrageously expensive procedure they can imagine. The insurance companies encourage this. The pharmaceutical companies will always be in for a cut and, unfortunately, there are probably enough MDs around willing to line their own pockets at the expense of those about to die and the general public.
This is already happening. Rest assured these business procedures will only spread to every aspect of America’s Healthcare system. Shouldn’t be long before little Jane and Johnny are going in for an MRI every single time they stub their toe. Can’t be too careful these days! Suckers.
And then, surprise, surprise, everyone starts paying half their wages to the insurance companies. The structure is already set. Who do you think is going to stop it?
Just remember, to any For-Profit enterprise you are merely a cow.
And “To Serve Man” is a cookbook.
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