‘Universal Care’ System Inevitable

An article in the December 21, 2001, issue, “Medicare’s Managed Care Option Falls Short of Promise,” shows once more that managed care only manages the care of the managed care companies’ money.

Managed care corporations of all types are giving sick people and their true caretakers (health professionals) more and more of less and less as they protect their profits.

“Corporatized” medicine is also giving America every evil predicted for “socialized” medicine, only worse. Corporations’ overhead plus profits siphon into their pockets 14 percent to 30 percent of the $1.2 trillion (and rising) spent yearly on health care. No matter how high that $1.2 trillion goes, billions of dollars will always be there for the corporations. That’s because they will keep both the amount of care they provide and the pay of health professionals low.

The American people will finally get fed up and end the managed care profiteering party with its headaches, heartaches, and wasted time, energy, and money and its (often fatal) assault on sick people and administrative assaults on the health care “providers.”

A universal care system (traditional Medicare type) with control of premiums and prices is inevitable and long overdue. The “market system” is a demonstrated failure. Worse, it is a profiteering ripoff.