Heathcare industry mergers - Warning about what is to come

IDK how many of you have followed the different mergers between various healthcare providers over the last 5+ years from actual hospitals/doctors offices to insurance companies to pharmacies - all have been merging in ways not done before, creating massive companies that have interests across more than one field (Hospital/practitioners & insurance company, Insurance company & pharmacy & others). I see this as a major problem in the coming years, especially if these types of mergers are allowed to continue or grow/expand.

Imagine if one major company owned the drug manufacturer, doctors, insurance company and pharmacy! This is only one merger away! I have a feeling that this is the goal of the Medical Industrial Complex (Med-IC) along with creating a form of national healthcare (free healthcare for all or something similar - maybe just require insurance for all similar to the ACA) which I can only see as a huge problem for citizens and a massive windfall (profit and control wise) for the Med-IC.

I fear that this has been the plans since Obama Care and even running Romney with his health care plan in Massachusetts and then having HC as a primary focus in the 2016 election (only to do nothing really about it).

This is the same old thing. Create the problem so the people will demand action to fix it, then implement the new "action" (law requiring XXX) which will lead to more profits in some way, for the companies. It is very easy to see when you look at history and the actions in other industries and political parties and how they parallel this. People will blow this off but I can guarantee that loosing choices in the HC market would be about the same as having the nation in a war (effect wise to health, happiness, etc for the people).

What do others think?

Didnt Bayer merge with MONSATAN?

That pretty much says it all, if so!

originally posted by: watersabove
Didnt Bayer merge with MONSATAN?

That pretty much says it all, if so!

Thanks for mentioning that. I didn't even think about that aspect, I was thinking about the CVS merger and then another one last year with Express Scripts and someone else. There has also been talk of a number of other companies looking at joining but I think they were waiting to see if the current ones were allowed to go forward before announcing their intentions as they probably don't want to to show their plans/intentions before they have the courts/congress in their favor.

Unfortunately I don't think this is the administration that would be the ones to stand in the way of this type of merger and I think it would not be in the interest of the public to have these companies merge.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All the mergers that you are seeing happen right now have been in the works since before Obama. And from a consumer stand point these WILL save the consumer money. BUT there is a very dark plan here also.
I’ll give ya a hint......DO NOT TAKE THE PILLS!

This has been in the works long before Obama. CVS started double dipping back in 1992 when they created CareMark.

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All the mergers that you are seeing happen right now have been in the works since before Obama. And from a consumer stand point these WILL save the consumer money. BUT there is a very dark plan here also.
I’ll give ya a hint......DO NOT TAKE THE PILLS!

That is a broad catagory. Does that mean any pill? Tylenol, Ibuprofen, tums, heart burn medication, psychotropics (from MAOI's, SSRI, tricyclic's etc?), pain meds, NSAIDS, etc - what are you talking about and can you expand on this?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All this does is reveal who has been behind everything from the start,the insurance,medical field has been controlled since USA's inception

originally posted by: DigginFoTroof

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All the mergers that you are seeing happen right now have been in the works since before Obama. And from a consumer stand point these WILL save the consumer money. BUT there is a very dark plan here also.
I’ll give ya a hint......DO NOT TAKE THE PILLS!

That is a broad catagory. Does that mean any pill? Tylenol, Ibuprofen, tums, heart burn medication, psychotropics (from MAOI's, SSRI, tricyclic's etc?), pain meds, NSAIDS, etc - what are you talking about and can you expand on this?

With the clinics being right next to the pharmacy it now becomes much easier to get the script. So by “pill” I mean anything that can be addictive. If you absolutely need it then by all means take it. If you don’t then I urge one to not even consider it. I have a f#ed up arm but you can’t tell from looking at it. It causes me excruciating pain everyday. But as the years have gone by I have become almost numb to it. Never have I taken any meds for it. Besides some Naproxen.
I often go and pick up my moms scripts for her and every person in line is 90% of the time picking up some addictive medication. Now that is a problem that is causing these mergers to happen. Huge profits from these and it won’t stop till people wake up.

originally posted by: Allaroundyou
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

All the mergers that you are seeing happen right now have been in the works since before Obama. And from a consumer stand point these WILL save the consumer money. BUT there is a very dark plan here also.
I’ll give ya a hint......DO NOT TAKE THE PILLS!

The big to fail never works out well in the end.
It would actually better for the consumer if there are a 1000+ competing against each other seeking new innovations than one giant one where the few small left cannot compete.

The giant ones left also tend to purchase politicians in order to kill off the small ones left as we are seeing.

Isn’t there something...immoral... about monetizing human lives and health?

Yeah, yeah, that’s just the way it is, I get it.

But SHOULD it be that way? Should the value, the sanctity of your life be determined by your ability to afford healthcare?

You fear the rising monopolization of the healthcare, and related, industries, yet at the same time, we rail against government-backed “socialized medicine for all”, claiming that such programs curtail “free choice”.

But the alternative(s), which BTW, have proven to be too expensive for most people to afford (particularly since the real wages most of us depend on to pay for healthcare, haven’t increased since the ‘70’s), and actually exacerbate the “care-gap” monetization has created.

“Your money, or your life”, is no longer just a dark alley threat but a day to day choice more and more of us will need to make.

Until we can ALL AGREE on a solution.

originally posted by: Bhadhidar
Isn’t there something...immoral... about monetizing human lives and health?

Yeah, yeah, that’s just the way it is, I get it.

But SHOULD it be that way? Should the value, the sanctity of your life be determined by your ability to afford healthcare?

You fear the rising monopolization of the healthcare, and related, industries, yet at the same time, we rail against government-backed “socialized medicine for all”, claiming that such programs curtail “free choice”.

But the alternative(s), which BTW, have proven to be too expensive for most people to afford (particularly since the real wages most of us depend on to pay for healthcare, haven’t increased since the ‘70’s), and actually exacerbate the “care-gap” monetization has created.

“Your money, or your life”, is no longer just a dark alley threat but a day to day choice more and more of us will need to make.

Until we can ALL AGREE on a solution.

I agree with you to a very large degree (maybe all - I read it a while ago and just got to replying) with you and the poster above you. I consider the mergers of the large companies into multiple areas of health care to be about as bad or near the same as having a socialized medical system. I think they are both designed for the same thing, consolidating the power into the hands of a very few and removing choice/options from the consumer while raising the price either through the "free market" (w/ merged companies) or higher taxes with socialized medicine. I think anybody paying attention to what is happening with the industry and in politics can see that there is a hidden plan by those who would profit from it.

I think socialized medicine is different in the states than it is in other countries due to our immigration problem with the number of illegals already in the country. Now if that wasn't a problem AND the immigration process was followed strictly and we don't have administrations who ignore the laws for 2 terms (and possibly more with following admins) and allow a flood of illegal citizens to destroy both the economy and medical system then socialized medicine might be a better alternative than the corporate giants.

The problem is that once these companies merge they have more "pull" with lobbyists and politicians so I would expect to see massive overspending on medical care like we already see with medicare and medicade. What makes anyone think that we would be able to run a medical system that is 10x larger more efficiently (cost, time & service wise)? If that can't be done we are kind of stuck. I don't see this changing until the people get mad and possibly react the same as the little people did during the French Revolution.