Profit-less Healthcare in a Capitalist System

I just want to say first that I am a Libertarian, and capitalist.

I have seen people injured, maimed, and given bad advice by doctors for profit. Weather it is a surgeon offering a surgery they know the patient doesn't actually need, or the FDA keeping procedures on the market that are harmful to a large unheard of percentage that are injured by these procedures. There are many examples of this. Being told you need shoulder surgery because it clicks sometimes while most people who have had shoulder surgery wish the only complication were an occasional click. Breast enhancement on women with already huge breasts who clearly have mental issues they need to address. Laser eye surgery where 5% of patients have deteriorated vision for the rest of their lives that can never be fixed, but they are told it was not caused by laser eye surgery because everyone is scared of a lawsuit. I could keep going here.

Pretty much all of these things are motivated by profit, in an industry where the professionals promised to "do no harm". The problem with our healthcare industry is PROFIT. Now I am all for profit. I am against taxation without representation. I am not for more laws. I do not think any profit should ever be gained off the health of an individual.

However, something needs to be done to remove the profit incentive from the medical industry as a whole. A doctor should not be able to lie to upsell a patient, it should not be possible. Now I am no economic genius, but it seems to me that profit caps of some form must be put on the industry as a whole. I 100% think doctors should get into the profession knowing what the salary will be from day 1 through retirement day. I absolutely hate the idea for other industries. Its also not complicated to tie doctor salaries to patient outcomes.

These crazy profits being made by hospitals are why the USA ranks horribly against the world for quality of medical care. It is why the vaccines were pushed whether you think they work or not. Its why many people get countless injections for pain that in the long run do more harm than good. Its why a bunch of beautiful women are running around with mangled faces from some doctor telling them they can fix things that aren't wrong in the first place. Countless suicides from people who have gotten laser eye surgery, or transgender surgery.

I have thought about this for a while, and the only solution I could come up with that would address every problem would be to remove the incentive of more money for more patients. The medical industry is treating us like cattle to harvest. Not only that, but that they should project out how much to charge for surgeries and visits based on operating costs like building maintenance, salaried for all employees, etcetera. Not only that, but bill based on how many surgeries they expect to do that year, how many patients they expect to see, meaning the more they do the cheaper it will be.

The FDA, insurance companies, hospital owners, and many others are knowingly injuring people to make more money, and overcharging people so much who need actual care that they cannot afford it. They are given kickback by medical manufacturers, campaign donations, and many companies are altering public discourse by spreading marketing propaganda material cloaked as patient reviews on all of social media.

Im not saying I have the answer, I am just saying this is a real problem that capitalism cannot fix due to the non enforcement of ethics and people's greed. This is the biggest area I see capitalism as being a problem, as well as a lack of enforcement of the existing rules, laws, and ethics.

Down with communism, screw socialism, give me more freedom, but also remove the profit incentive from doctors I pay to give me an honest opinion about something. I dont want them incentivized behind my back by how much they will make if I do something that is not in my best interest because they tell me in their professional opinion that I should do it. Doctors should know when they apply to school that if they become this type of doctor, here is that cap, surgeon, here is your cap.

It is NOT a noble profession when innocent and trusting people are getting injured, or doctors are doing it to become filthy rich.

Our system is broken

a reply to: TrollMagnet

Yeah Damnit 😳

a reply to: TrollMagnet

something needs to be done to remove the profit incentive from the medical industry as a whole

You can thank Nixon for changing the law that prevented healthcare from being for profit. He was good buddies with Kaiser founder Henry J. Kaiser.

It's almost like the first step in a 50 year plan to 'fundamentally change America'.

originally posted by: nugget1
a reply to: TrollMagnet

something needs to be done to remove the profit incentive from the medical industry as a whole

You can thank Nixon for changing the law that prevented healthcare from being for profit. He was good buddies with Kaiser founder Henry J. Kaiser.

It's almost like the first step in a 50 year plan to 'fundamentally change America'.

was that legislation or Executive Action? 😧

a reply to: TrollMagnet

I 100% think doctors should get into the profession knowing what the salary will be from day 1 through retirement day. I absolutely hate the idea for other industries.

So, a plumber can charge $500 an hour, but, after years of schooling, internship and finally getting their own practice, the person saving your life can't charge what they're worth ?

Its also not complicated to tie doctor salaries to patient outcomes.

That's called mal practice insurance and Drs pay out the ass for it.

a reply to: TrollMagnet

HMOs seem to be actually negotiating lower prices 😀

I think the overall healthcare industry has a small "profit" margin of something like 2%-3%. Not much room for "honesty" isitnow 😎

a reply to: DAVID64

500 an hr?

Lots of jobs save or preserve life.

Fire Fighters
The Po Po
Paramedics
Garbage Collectors
Truckers who bring most everything.

I will most likely need a trucker so I don’t starve before I need a doctor.

Havent used one yet, but have reading up on comparisons between insurance paid for healthcare and surgery centers that only do cash.

Astonishing the difference in cost, with a high quality of care, what they can treat is unfortunately smaller than a traditional set up but no reason it cant be part of the process moving forward.

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: nugget1
a reply to: TrollMagnet

something needs to be done to remove the profit incentive from the medical industry as a whole

You can thank Nixon for changing the law that prevented healthcare from being for profit. He was good buddies with Kaiser founder Henry J. Kaiser.

It's almost like the first step in a 50 year plan to 'fundamentally change America'.

was that legislation or Executive Action? 😧

Legislation, at his direction.

originally posted by: nugget1

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: nugget1
a reply to: TrollMagnet

something needs to be done to remove the profit incentive from the medical industry as a whole

You can thank Nixon for changing the law that prevented healthcare from being for profit. He was good buddies with Kaiser founder Henry J. Kaiser.

It's almost like the first step in a 50 year plan to 'fundamentally change America'.

was that legislation or Executive Action? 😧

Legislation, at his direction.

One of the rare moments in History when a full Democrat majority Congress plotted with a Republican President !!! 😲

a reply to: TrollMagnet

Put the incentive on healthy people instead of sick. There was a system in ancient china where people woukd only pay their docs while they were healthy the moment they turned ill they stopped paying, until they were healed.
Their job is keeping you healthy not sick.

Doctors being heavily paid because "they've had to do years to qualify", BS, BS. Yeah they had to do years to practice what they do because it's complicated and they're messing with humans.

But if I could wave a magic wand and control all sewerage workers, lowly workers heh, I would stop them clearing blockages and when that doctor is wading through his own sh## I would say to him "your sewerage will be cleared when you pay the sewerage worker the same as you are paid". Would he pay it? Yeah he would. Cos with all professional people they deem it below themselves to get their hands dirty. Moral of the story:- a sewerage worker is just as important as a doctor.

So why are doctors paid more? Because they deal with you directly and they blag you into believing they are gods to wave a magic wand to make you better and it takes a few weeks for sewerage to back up. But believe me when you are walking through your own sh## you will scream louder for a sewerage worker than a doctor.

I'll add this to the topic. This was a mind blow for me.

I had gotten really sick a few years back. It turned out to be something really serious; end result being I needed surgery to remove a good portion of my colon. When I first got sick, I didn't have any insurance. I was in and out of hospitals. Ending up in the ER for major pain (understatement), and would end up in the hospital for a week at a time. Basically I was getting infected, and they'd put me on antibiotics, make sure I wasn't gonna die, and send me home. Now, to my point. I stayed in a for-profit hospital one of the times and as they called me in to settle my bill, and since I didn't have any insurance they had me enrol in essentially a "poor person's" discount program. They started off BY TAKING 98% OFF MY BILL. That was awesome, yeah, great. But it got me thinking, does that mean there's a 98% mark up on health care? Most of us have looked at our medical bills, and noticed you paid $75 for two aspirin.
I'm no economy guru either, but something didn't seem right about that 98% being knocked off my bill right off the top. My thought was, the insurance and how people with insurance would have paid a lot more than I did without the insurance.
Things that make ya go hmmm....