Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better. – Florence Nightingale
Imagine if only the wealthy were allowed on the roads. Or only full-time executives, or only those born in certain ZIP codes. That would be outrageous—unwise, unjust, foolish and immoral. But that’s literally how we treat healthcare in the United States today. Florence Nightingale called out complacency. And our system rewards cruelty, preserves suffering, and withholds care from those who need it most.
In our current system, the wealthy and powerful are treated as worthy of health. Executives, supervisors and full-time employees are protected. But those below them—those who work part-time, or can’t work at all—are often denied care or sent away with scraps. The implication is chilling: that their lives matter less. That their health is expendable. That the disabled and the poor are somehow less human.
Those who work too far below, as well as those who don’t or can’t work, are denied coverage, or given limited, marginal care, and sent away. Denying healthcare to the poor and disabled is more than neglect—it echoes eugenics, the belief that only some lives are worth preserving.
Healthcare in the United States today isn’t just broken. It’s hijacked. Yes, there are excellent caregivers and medical facilities. But the system and its mechanisms—insurance, billing, approval chains, payment gatekeepers—has profit motives so dominant, they routinely overrule medical judgment and deny care. And those who defend this sickening system do so because it enriches them. Money that should go to treatment is siphoned off into company profits and stockholder dividends.
Those profits don’t come from innovation. They come from denial. By slashing care, delaying treatment and burying patients in red tape, insurers reduce expenses—and call that savings. Denial of care is literal theft from those who need care. It is skimming, corporate stealing protected by jargon, lies, propaganda and lobbyists. (Remember the cashier, the programmer, the bank, the energy company?) Look:
The executive pay figures below come straight from a major U.S. health-insurance company’s own annual report. This isn’t hearsay—these are their numbers. And they tell the story plainly. As is the norm for the claims in this book, it’s available under Healthcare in Sources, along with others, with links to the original documents for each company.
The CEO receives $23.5 million per year. That’s $1,958,333 per month, or $13,232 per hour. Plus full, top-tier healthcare coverage, of course.
The four executives who report directly to him make every year:
$16,100,000 or $1,341,667 per month. $9065 per hour.
$16,100,000 or $1,341,667 per month. $9065 per hour.
$10,200,000 or $850,000 per month. $5743 per hour.
$6,200,000 or $515,000 per month. $3491 per hour.
These four executives all get gold-plated, denial-free healthcare. No restrictions for any prescription, doctor, procedure or therapy—since they are in charge of those decisions. These salaries are made possible not by quality of care—but by denial of care to others. You and me.
At the same time, in the same country, a typical retail clerk makes $7.25 to $15 per hour, struggles to cover monthly rent for a room, and isn’t covered for health insurance by the employer.
What does it say about a country where the people most essential to the system’s functioning—retail workers, caregivers, laborers—are often the least protected by it?
The treatment of the most needy is despicable. But it isn’t just those at the bottom of this unbalanced wage-and-benefit scale who struggle. Even “upper-middle-class” families with two incomes struggle—with rent, mortgages, insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays—only to then face denials of coverage. And “appeals” processes are so utterly aggravating and lengthy that most don’t bother to try to begin one.
Do we also realize that “co-pays” and “deductibles” are a part of this same for-profit scheme? Those clever labels make it all seem normal. That’s just how the healthcare system works… Really?
We need to see this plainly: If you are required to pay a co-pay or deductible, it’s only because they didn’t pay it. Shifting expenses onto you increases their profits. Why are we paying these extras—when we already pay for coverage? If your house catches fire, does homeowners insurance require a co-pay to send the fire truck? Of course not.
Why are we forced to pay “co-pays” and “deductibles”? It’s just another absurd trick—offloading their costs onto us to boost their profits.
We can’t unsee this anymore. And we shouldn’t try.
What About Universal Healthcare?
For decades, the health-insurance industry has convinced legislators, and us, that universal healthcare—i.e., fair, equal coverage for everyone, paid for by everyone—is dangerous and unworkable—a “socialist nightmare,” as if fairness itself were a threat. Meanwhile, countless other nations prove daily that it isn’t.
And for decades, the poor and those with “pre-existing conditions” were excluded—barred from coverage altogether. Until…
Enter the Affordable Care Act of 2010—fiercely opposed by the insurance industry then, and still under attack now. The ACA uses public funds to help low-income people—who simply can’t afford health insurance—to be able to afford to buy it, based on their income.
And it mandates coverage for “pre-existing” conditions. This was previously a clever “out” insurance companies gave themselves. If they could establish that you had a disease or injury prior to buying insurance from them, they’d refuse to cover anything related to it. Even worse, they’d refuse to allow individuals with certain conditions, such as autism, to purchase health insurance at all. If you were diagnosed with that (or dozens of other conditions), you were refused coverage entirely. You literally could not buy health insurance.
Many of those who benefit today from the coverage mandates of the ACA don’t even realize they have coverage because of it, or that this law had to be passed simply to get coverage! That ignorance is itself a symptom of the propaganda and manipulation surrounding this topic.
So the Affordable Care Act provided coverage for those with incomes so low they previously couldn’t afford to buy health insurance at all, plus a mandate to make sure all health needs are covered! That sounds practical and compassionate, and it is. It helped—but didn’t change the core theft at the heart of the system—the use of denial of care to create profits for companies and executives. Some still suffer so others can prosper.
Here’s why: The insurance plans offered under the ACA still run through the same insurance companies—companies that can and do deny care whenever it reduces their costs. Denial remains a tool to protect executive pay and profits.
Between the money we pay and the professionals who care for us stands a middleman parasite, misnamed as “insurance”—diverting funds and celebrating the diversion as profit. This is true of both private and employer insurance—and even of ACA plans. The money still flows through the same insurance companies. And part of it still skimmed off for the executives, and corporate profits.
We really should legislate equal healthcare for all—it’s the right thing to do. But it’s another thing altogether when our taxes support theft designed into the system—to profit executives (and shareholders) who game that system by denying care. These are people who preserve suffering so they can prosper. That’s what parasites do.
Profit isn’t inherently evil. But in healthcare, where literal life and death are on the line, profit as an incentive is both immoral and dangerous. When profit thrives on human suffering—on sickness untreated, medication withheld, procedures denied—it becomes a parasite feeding on our very lives.
Most advanced nations—and many less wealthy ones—already understand this. They treat healthcare as a human right, not a financial battleground. Their systems are overseen by competent professionals who are well-compensated, not absurdly enriched.
The difference? They don’t use people’s suffering as a revenue stream. The people who supervise healthcare systems there are appropriately compensated. It isn’t theft in those countries and systems, and their national healthcare outcomes are better than ours—for infant mortality, life expectancy and cost per person. (Details in Healthcare in Sources.)
Also, consider what we pay our top leaders over healthcare in our own national government. They lead complex organizations with thousands upon thousands of employees.
The Surgeon General of the United States is paid $191,000 per year.
The head of Health and Human Services is paid $246,000.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control is paid $183,200.
Even the President of the United States is paid just $450,000.
We can obviously attract skilled, gifted, capable leaders without paying them $23,000,000 per year!
We’re fully capable of building a universal healthcare system—coverage for everyone, paid for by everyone—managed competently at every level. Once we make that moral and intelligent decision, the rest is logistics. We know how to do it. We can make it work. But we must eliminate the incentives to profit that come from denying care.
How Does It Work in Other Countries?
In countries with universal healthcare, everyone receives care—equally. It’s funded through common taxes for the common good. No bills for doctor visits, medications or surgery. Everyone gets what they need. Everyone contributes. It’s mutual care.
Opponents in the U.S. tell horror stories—of patients waiting years for care—and try to scare us with terms like “socialized medicine” or “bureaucrats will dictate your healthcare decisions.” Or some other sinister-sounding label meant to make us look away. But look closer:
Are we really to believe our current system is better? A nightmarish complicated contraption: A scheme where pharmaceutical companies can charge outrageous amounts for common drugs. Where insurance businesses dictate treatment, deny coverage, and base profits and bonuses on how much care they refuse. An endless labyrinth of coverages no one seems to understand, full of supplementary plans, teeth and eyes somehow not a part of your body and requiring separate coverage, endless forms to repeatedly complete, loopholes, exclusions, confusion and red tape—designed to enrich some by keeping others sick. This is the system we’re supposed to defend or believe is better?
I don’t think we’re gullible enough to believe that anymore.
Scary Stories
What about the horror stories in other countries—long waits to see a doctor or get surgery? They happen, but they’re rare. Most of those stories are exaggerated, recycled endlessly to scare us. Some are just made up, fictions, corporate propaganda meant to keep us trapped in our profitable nightmare. (And some, as my brother calls them, are just “stupid stories”—minor annoyances we retell for a laugh or a groan. We rarely repeat stories about when things work well. It’s the dumb or frustrating moments that stick. We like to recall the annoying anomalies.)
I’ve received healthcare in many countries, and I have friends living all over the world. Where care is universally available, it’s typically quick enough, effective and caring. Real doctors and health workers care for you. Then you go home. No bills, no forms, no “claims,” no phone battles for approvals. Just good medical care. It works.
Are there flaws in universal healthcare? Of course—every system has them. But they are the exception, not the rule. And even if others struggle, that doesn’t mean we can’t do better. We should. And we can.