Capitalism has one job:”Use free markets to seek maximum return on capital.”
In this regard, our medical complex of insurers, drug companies, plastic surgeons and other subspecialists, lawyers and plaintiffs, lobbyists and their bought politicians, have all achieved success. THAT is why the status quo is being defended to the hilt, no matter how many people get sick or die in the process. Sick and dying people are drags on ROE…return on equity. A claim denied is money in the bank.

Doctors also prefer the status quo. Can you imagine what a cardiologist would do if you had a preventive that reduces cardiovascular disease by 90%? Yes, they would get divorced and the wife/husband would seek the safety of a cash-receiving face/boob/tummy/bum/lip lifter!

Can you imagine what a hospital CEO would do if traffic was cut by 50%? Yes, they will become bankers (if smart), a legal position for mega robbery. Who would then run the hospitals…..altruists? Would you want more bankers?

Speaking of selling out, I’m now awaiting news about whether I have been hired by a large health insurer as a Chief Medical Officer. I will be handsomely rewarded and will also get more for each claim denied. It’s legal and a conscience is merely the notion that somebody may be looking. Americans have little time for this nonsense.

One more thing you will hear from the land of the free and well insured: “Socialism is behind the new healthcare bullshit reform argument.” Allow me to correct this: Socialism is when the govt. OWNS the means of production. In the case of USA!USA!, the means of production owns the govt. They finance the political campaigns and thus deserve to rape the place like true professional capitalists. Individual taxpayers serve only to bail out banks….and donate at least 6 months of the year for this noble cause. Noble victims, as you Provocative Therapists call them, eh?

As GW Bush said:”The Constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper.” Since when was this place about fair rights for all? Democracy is mob rule.

Truth is the hardest thing to face. Karl Marx, an economist, is hopefully twisting in his grave. Government cannot control the economy……free markets must do so. Patients are innocent bystanders. Medicine is business. Patient centricity is an illusion, even over there in Britain where everybody is gentle and well mannered.

Sorry that you will now have to pay 20 quid, but you should also consider tipping a doctor who adds a physical examination to your enjoyable visit.

Love,
Ruth