I am also shocked it took this long. I was waiting for an oil company CEO to be attacked in the early 1990s. Then, I thought maybe someone would go for a tobacco company CEO in the late 90s. But of course it eventually happened to the CEO of a private healthcare payment corporation - the behemoth, cruel middle man that destroys both fami…
I am also shocked it took this long. I was waiting for an oil company CEO to be attacked in the early 1990s. Then, I thought maybe someone would go for a tobacco company CEO in the late 90s. But of course it eventually happened to the CEO of a private healthcare payment corporation - the behemoth, cruel middle man that destroys both families and hospitals by denying coverage and reimbursement. This company has killed both people and smaller hospitals that are just doing their damn jobs to heal people.
Yesterday's assassination reminded me of cyberpunk literature, in which people have to buy all sorts of supplemental subscriptions to get healthcare, and corporate executives ('Corpos') have their own police forces and hit squads. Oh wait, that's our world now! Chapo Trap House and Trashfuture are going to go wild with this story.
May the assassin be 8,000 miles away as I type this. Fiji, India, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, wherever. I wish them godspeed.
Amazing that in a country awash with guns people apparently just realized they can be used against the actual architects of their pain and immiseration and not on, like, elementary school kids.
Excellent point. My take is that the tiger that hospitals enabled is now eating their face. The big multi-billion hospitals that make up the US News top ten either just have or are re-negotiating their deals with United Healthcare, and the feedback from all of them is (1) the new deal is squeezing their revenues, and (2) the next time they have to renew, the contract will be even worse, and they will suffer badly. I don't know if Mass General ever had to do layoffs, but L word is starting to be whispered in these big institutions. These top hospitals in Minneapolis (Mayo) Boston (Harvard), Baltimore (JH) and New York (Columbia/Cornell) see Medicaid patients at a loss, but that helps their PR and helps them keep their tax free non-profit status as both schools and charities. But when private insurance reimbursement starts to slide down towards 50%, we could have a major hospital collapse of Lehman Brothers proportions. These huge hospitals rely on the oligarch class to survive. Americans will come around and ask for single payer when it is well too late.
I'm a fan of Trashfuture, not Chapo. But I admit Will Menaker is a close match to my politics and personality. And I can say that without having listened to it yet!
I am also shocked it took this long. I was waiting for an oil company CEO to be attacked in the early 1990s. Then, I thought maybe someone would go for a tobacco company CEO in the late 90s. But of course it eventually happened to the CEO of a private healthcare payment corporation - the behemoth, cruel middle man that destroys both families and hospitals by denying coverage and reimbursement. This company has killed both people and smaller hospitals that are just doing their damn jobs to heal people.
Yesterday's assassination reminded me of cyberpunk literature, in which people have to buy all sorts of supplemental subscriptions to get healthcare, and corporate executives ('Corpos') have their own police forces and hit squads. Oh wait, that's our world now! Chapo Trap House and Trashfuture are going to go wild with this story.
May the assassin be 8,000 miles away as I type this. Fiji, India, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, wherever. I wish them godspeed.
Single Payer. Now.
Amazing that in a country awash with guns people apparently just realized they can be used against the actual architects of their pain and immiseration and not on, like, elementary school kids.
Cory Doctorow wrote a short story called “Radicalized” where domestic terrorism against health insurance companies leads Congress to pass universal healthcare. Anyone who’s read it probably thought about it upon seeing yesterday’s news. https://craphound.com/category/radicalized-full/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabu8RkAwUJVALnqatkPIRs8ViT5DjyvlbCCkboJi6EscPk1H7mgXC2yynU_aem_zIMt2T1IAPRH0giriA4mNw
I’m with you on almost all of them except hospitals. Hospitals helped enable this bullshit. They are no more victims than the FAFO Trump voters.
Excellent point. My take is that the tiger that hospitals enabled is now eating their face. The big multi-billion hospitals that make up the US News top ten either just have or are re-negotiating their deals with United Healthcare, and the feedback from all of them is (1) the new deal is squeezing their revenues, and (2) the next time they have to renew, the contract will be even worse, and they will suffer badly. I don't know if Mass General ever had to do layoffs, but L word is starting to be whispered in these big institutions. These top hospitals in Minneapolis (Mayo) Boston (Harvard), Baltimore (JH) and New York (Columbia/Cornell) see Medicaid patients at a loss, but that helps their PR and helps them keep their tax free non-profit status as both schools and charities. But when private insurance reimbursement starts to slide down towards 50%, we could have a major hospital collapse of Lehman Brothers proportions. These huge hospitals rely on the oligarch class to survive. Americans will come around and ask for single payer when it is well too late.
Chapo's take is now up: https://youtu.be/rZOHR4LMclM?si=nuzf3AQ4Fjgqdmkg
I'm a fan of Trashfuture, not Chapo. But I admit Will Menaker is a close match to my politics and personality. And I can say that without having listened to it yet!