Thread by @DragonStone1963

Everyone talks about health care in this country, however no one is discussing what I believe to be the root of the problem blocking H/C for all, greed. A trillion dollar industry is not going to give up profits with out a fight. Understand the problem and how to fight it. Thread

As I see it there are four components to health care and a fifth I am pretty sure is exclusive to the U.S:
1. Health Care Delivery - Hospitals, Urgent Care, etc
2. Medical Surgical Supply - Equipment, band aids etc
3. Pharmaceuticals
4. Health Care insurance
5. GREED - $$$$$

General over view of a trillion dollar industry.
"For the year 2018, the top U.S. healthcare expense categories by % of overall spend are projected to be:
32.4% Hospital Care
26.4% Professional Services"
hctadvisor.com/2018/01/3-67-t…

Health Care delivery or hospitals, etc are paying CEOs big bucks to make them enormous profits and they want to keep it that way. This is one example and a link to the top 5 CEO salaries.
1. R. Milton Johnson, CEO, HCA Healthcare: $17,268,724
beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-i…

For profit hospitals are reporting a "modest" 2nd quarter (3 months) revenue of $11.33 billion. Yes billion for just the 2nd quarter of four for the year. Think they might be lobbying the GOP to kill medicare for all and ACA.
Source:
cnb.cx/2uJlc3k

Non Profit hospitals CEOs earn big bucks to make their hospitals money and it appears most of it goes to the CEO's.
Anthony Tersigni, president and CEO of Ascension (St. Louis)
Total compensation: $17,565,552
Source:
beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-i…

Moving on to medical surgical supply and medical devices from knees to CT scan units Medtronic comes in at number one for 2018 with $29.7 billion in earnings. Think they may have tossed some cash to the GOP to kill ACA?
Source:
proclinical.com/blogs/2018-5/t…

The above is just devices. There are also billions to be made from medical supplies such as band aids, ace wraps, surgical instruments and so on. McKesson is one wholesale distributor with $53.1 billion for the 2nd qtr, $53.1 billion in 3 months.
Source:
investor.mckesson.com/press-release/…

Pharmaceuticals are our favorite heartless robber barons. I spent 25 years in military medicine from scheduling appointments to small clinic administrator. I watched the price of Epipens go from $10 to $300 (gov contract) for 2 pens in 1 year.

Not the highest paid CEO but number 4 on the list from a company everyone recognizes
IAN C READ - PFIZER INC - $27,913,775
Source:
graphics.wsj.com/table/CEOPAY_s…

I'm pretty sure the big pharma folks are throwing plenty of "donations" at the GOP.
"The global pharmaceutical market was estimated at USD 1.11 trillion in 2017 and projected to reach USD 1.43 trillion by 2020." The US leads market share at 37%
Source:
igeahub.com/2018/03/06/top…

Last but not least, insurance and CEO salaries, mind boggling to say the least. These are the highest paid CEOs in this thread. In the article, hover over the graphs for amounts.
Humana CEO Bruce Broussard - total for 2017 - $34.2 million.
Source:
fiercehealthcare.com/payer/ceo-pay-…

This is just one insurance company.
"2017 revenue cracked the $200 billion... the nation's No. 1 insurer will reap an extra $1.7 billion in earnings in 2018 thanks to Trump admin's recent tax overhaul that reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%"
modernhealthcare.com/article/201801…

Starting to see the problem with this country moving to single payer? These companies, their owners and investors are not willing to give up billions to ensure everyone gets affordable health care. This will take time possibly decades for America to move to health care for all.

This thread has not even addressed how many Senators, Congressmen and our nations oligarchs own stock or may be on the boards of these companies. That could be an entire thread on its own.

I am not saying we give up on health care for all, just pointing out the battle we face. We are the only county in the world of our stature that does not provide healthcare to its citizens. The GOP claims the government can't afford it and after the tax scam they are correct.

One company, UnitedHealth, reduced tax revenue to the government by $1.7 billion dollars, ONE COMPANY, and they want to cut SSI and Medicare benefits because there is no money. The healthcare lobby and the GOP are the problem and we need to vote the GOP out.

If we want to fix this it will take time, and focused attention. We'll need to stop in-fighting and dividing over candidates. If we do not unify and do what is best for the country we might as well vote for the GOP and 45 again because that is what is going to happen.

If we want any progress towards healthcare for all we'll need to pay close attention to all our candidate's stances and ties to HC profits. We'll need to understand and amplify the issue of greed. Voting is the first step, the second is holding our elected officials to account.