PNHP : Health industry CEOs took home a whopping $2.6 BILLION in compensation last year.

[BeckyDem]

( MEDICARE FOR ALL )

Link to tweet

[Frustratedlady]

1. This is obscene. No one needs that kind of money.

[leftieNanner]

2. THIS!!!

This is why health insurance should not be run this way. There are hospitals that are supposedly not-for-profit, but they just funnel all of the profits into the CEO's salary. My daughter had an outpatient procedure done on her ankle. In at 8:30 am, out by 3:00 pm. The total charges were over $18,000!!! We had health insurance, but we had $3,000 out of pocket charges that we had to pay off over time.

This is bullshit.

[BeckyDem]

3. omg

That should be an OP here at DU. THAT IS CRIMINAL. I am so sorry to hear these stories, its crazy wrong.

[leftieNanner]

5. It is.

And if we didn't have health insurance, the hospital would have come after us for the whole $18,000. What most people without insurance would have just let their child limp on a bad ankle for ever.

[BeckyDem]

7. Exactly and this is another erosion of human rights, imo.

[leftieNanner]

8. Perfect comment

The essence of the argument.

[dalton99a]

12. +1. And this practice is common

[leftieNanner]

13. And when I called the hospital to ask about the charges

They said they would review them, and then came back to me and said "yep, it's all accurate".

They don't seem to have a problem with a $10 Bandaid.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Denial of care is hard work.

[leftieNanner]

6. And the clerks who work for the insurance companies

are told if they can't outright deny the claim or request for care, they should DELAY it as long as possible.

Maybe the guy will die. Bonus! Cost savings!

[BeckyDem]

9. +1

[Hoyt]

10. While agree with basic premise, the $2.6 B is not just insurance CEOs -- it includes hospital CEOs,

drug company CEOs including those developing cures/treatments for HIV, certain cancers, Hepatitis, heart disease, drug addiction, and much more; other treatment centers; medical device companies; organizations that ensure quality of care; etc.

Again, I think compensation for business leaders, athletes, musicians, actors, heads of big churches, etc., is absurd. And I suppose we could hire minimum wage employees to run 1500 bed hospitals and health systems, drug research organizations, etc.

If the savings went into healthcare, and no unintended problems arose having minimum wage employees run these organizations, we'd have roughly $7.88 more to spend on each USA citizen per year. Somehow, I'm not sure it would work out as well as some think.

My point, we are probably focusing on the wrong problems with our so-called healthcare system.

[Bettie]

11. A very good argument for

why we CAN afford a single payer system.

Strip out the profit motive.

[area51]

15. +1

With 45,000 people dying per year due to lack of healthcare, we damn well can afford comprehensive Medicare for All.

[Bettie]

16. And if it makes people feel better

call it something else!

But, people facing serious health problems shouldn't have to hold fundraisers, have people give their coins at the grocery store, and use "go fund me" just to have a chance to get needed medical care.

[ck4829]

14. Wow