Bring back the good old days

Before 1973, it was illegal to make a profit in medicine. Nixon changed the law for one of his donors and presto! The mess we have now.

A little history: https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2020/...rofit-Business

From the article

This is something I wish everyone knew about how medical services changed in 1973. Up to that point it was illegal to make a profit from medical services. However a wealthy friend and president/chairman of Kaiser-Permanente asked Nixon for a favor which resulted in the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 allowing medical entities to make a profit. Since then medical costs have continued to rise so the profiteers such as insurance companies could make a killing (literally in some cases) off the medical needs of Americans.

Here is something else the law did: "And to perfectly cement HMOA73 as the profiteering boondoggle that it actually was, the law Nixon mandated also included clauses that encouraged medical providers to not CURE afflictions, but to PROLONG them by only treating the symptoms. There’s no money to be made in CURING sickness."

Quote:

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There’s no money to be made in CURING sickness."

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....and none to be made if you let em die---so keep em sick and alive :o:

Now right there is a cash cow my friends:cowboy:

Kevin, I am afraid that horse "has done left the barn".

I read the complete article. Not a lot there, but I am a bit surprised about the no profit laws. I don't question the validity, but I wonder how that works?

How is a doctor supposed to support him/herself without profits?

I remember prior to 1973 having friends whose parents were doctors and dentists. They always lived in the nicer homes, drove the nicer cars, had the best toys etc. One of them even owned an airplane I enjoyed flying in.

Where did all that money come from without profits? :shrug:

I wondered the same. I believe they are speaking of care via institutions - hospitals - and insurance companies operating for profit.

The article is a bit disingenuous, though, as I have since discovered. It wasn't that it was illegal, per se, but only two for profit insurance companies existed. What the Act did, though, was allow the creation of for profit health maintenance organizations, which set us on the path we are today, with insurance running things. So it isn't accurate to say that before the Act, it was illegal. It was uncommon. The Act just hit the nitrous.

Two things that also caught my eye:

1) The Act was designed originally to address ballooning health care costs. Guess that failed.

2) The Act's sponsor? That "liberal lion" - Ted Kennedy.