Instead of looking to improve and expand Medicare as the majority in the U.S. favor, the Biden administration is using a back door created by the Trump administration to invite Wall St. to privatize it. Since this would be an unpopular move, a bureaucratic structure known as Direct Contracting Entities (DCE) has crept in behind the scenes.
In case you think the U.S. health care system already has too many middlemen raking in profits from people’s illnesses, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Doctors are enticed to sign up for a DCE on the promise that their revenues will go up.
Then patients are opted into the DCE without their consent or even knowledge. They can opt out again and change doctors, but only if they know about it.
Physicians for a National Health Program has put together this explainer about the threat posed by DCEs — which already exist in 43 states, including Maine. (It’s a pdf so I can’t embed it but I’ll include a screenshot.)
Why would both Democratic and Republican administrations create a way for private investors to prey on the elderly or people with disabilities who currently receive Medicare?
Because when Wall St. says Jump, both Democrats and Republicans ask, How high?
The big bucks that flow into campaign coffers on “both sides of the aisle” are what buys representation in this alleged democracy, while the people get fleeced with the government’s cooperation.
We already spend the most on health — enough and then some to fund universal health care — and rather than good health we have lousy outcomes. The fact that we alone of rich countries have no public health system is a direct result of ultra wealthy health “insurance” corporations sponsoring our government.
Commerce and health just don’t mix.
A more in-depth discussion of DCEs is here on YouTube.
