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Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans: Wendell Potter, John D. Rockefeller IV: 9781608194049: Amazon.com: Books [1]

['Follow The Author']

Date: 2024-12

My review title is a simpleton one and I know things are not that simple. Sometimes some medical care is appropriate and sometimes it truly is not and not everyone (patient, doctor) involved in every decision will agree. Having acknowledged that,...



This is a very important book because it is written by someone who worked at a very high level in the health insurance industry for many years. The author decided after many years that their job involved doing things that were not in the best interest of society and then decided to "do the right thing" by resigning (on good terms) their job and eventually to write this book to articulate the issues that bothered him. These are issues that should bother everyone in the US as getting good and appropriate healthcare for everyone should be something that is important to you (or if nothing else, getting good healthcare for yourself and your loved ones).



The subject is a troubling one. Many millions of people in the US have health insurance through a for-profit health insurance company. The inherent conflicts of interest (they make more money by spending less on your healthcare) and the inefficiencies inherent in their business hurts American society.



The book discusses in detail how the MLR (Medical Loss Ratio) governs the behavior of for-profit health insurance companies. The MLR is highest when the highest percentage of their revenue is spent on delivering healthcare (doctor visits, medical tests, surgery etc). It is lowest when the least amount is spent on healthcare. Lower MLR's equals greater profits. Health insurance companies make more money by spending less of their revenue (your health insurance premiums) on your healthcare.



If the way a health insurance company makes the most profit is to spend the least on healthcare for you then there is an inherent conflict of interest.



For-profit health insurance companies need to make a profit as they are for-profit businesses responsible to their shareholders. Imagine if they were non-profits for a moment. Their profits could be rebated to you as lower premiums. If they were owned by the policy-holders then debates about appropriate care would still be relevant but the inherent conflict of interest between profits and spending on healthcare would diminish and the overhead of making a profit for shareholders would not exist.



Single payer systems (i.e. France, Britain, Canada) have demonstrated a documented ability to keep their population healthier than the US's. Medicare and Medicaid spend more of their revenue on patient care (a higher MLR) and executive salaries are modest six-figure amounts and not the seven and eight figure amounts of for-profit companies.



We will always have patients, we will always have providers (doctors, nurses, therapists etc) and will always need a system to funnel money to pay the providers and their costs. For-profit insurance companies add costs to the system (higher executive salaries, profits for shareholders, marketing etc) that don't exist with non-profit firms and/or with single payer systems. They also do not deliver better healthcare than non-profit healthcare firms or single payer systems.



I have concluded from reading this book and other materials I have am familiar with that for-profit health insurance companies drive up the cost of healthcare and do not benefit patients (relative to non-profit healthcare insurance organizations and/or single payer systems). We should do away with them.



If you think that for-profit healthcare firms are good for you and our country then I suggest reading this book. It written by a well respected person with lots of first hand knowledge of what he writes about.



I hope this book is widely read!



Highly recommended!



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[1] Url: https://substack.com/redirect/92063b3b-f9d0-4f1a-932d-e8e5629606ab?j=eyJ1IjoiMmVzazhtIn0.Wo3hJHNqJlrEc9bf-427b9wV4O8-SYJgR-iMnwJ3_cE

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