Humana CEO Signals Industry Plans to Hijack the Medicare for All Movement [View all]

[Nanjeanne]

https://businessinitiative.org/humana-ceo-signals-industry-plans-to-hijack-the-medicare-for-all-movement/

Wendell Potter has been my hero since he left the insurance industry and became an advocate for care. Worth reading the whole article.

My old colleagues in the insurance industry are up to their old tricks. Bruce Broussard, the CEO of my former employer, Humana, referred to Medicare for All as “a great opportunity” on Tuesday.

It is a great opportunity! Finally, we can have comprehensive universal healthcare.

We can remove the burden of providing health insurance from employers, who—once Medicare is improved and expanded to cover all of us—can raise wages, invest in new markets, create new jobs, and be more competitive internationally.

Medical professionals will no longer be drowning in paperwork. We won’t have to hear any more horrifying stories of people dying while rationing their insulin or losing their life savings from a cancer diagnosis. Or not being able to get the care they need because of the ever-increasing barriers insurance companies are erecting between patients and their doctors.

Of course, these aren’t the opportunities he’s referring to. You see, Humana ostensibly exists to sell health insurance that protects their customers from financial disaster when they need healthcare. But in reality, Mr. Broussard’s top priority is to further enrich Humana’s shareholders (including himself). And he’s doing a very good job of that by soaking taxpayers through the company’s Medicare Advantage plans.