As a physician, I can see that the 'corporatization' of healthcare has been a bad thing for patients. Unlike most other services whose use is discretionary, peo

As a physician, I can see that the 'corporatization' of healthcare has been a bad thing for patients. Unlike most other services whose use is discretionary, people do not choose to get sick. Healthcare is more like a police, fire or a disaster service. To allow a profit driven structure to use competition among providers to deliver this service will only harm the sick. In the same way that national defense has been driven into a profit making venture (and encouraging the support for proxy wars), health care has become a beast beyond monopolistic power, able to drive demand for its own supply. The net result has been to give responsibility without authority to the providers. Nurses are subject to mandatory overtime. Physicians are required to take unreimbursed call. These services were once the hallmark of a devoted provider. Now they are exploited by a corporate profit seeking behemoth. Patients now have such large deductibles that they prefer to pay me in cash for a negotiated lower price. No longer is health insurance actually insurance. It has become more of a coupon or in the language of today's generation, a groupon. Even retirees who with Medicare only had to pay 20% of unreimbursed allowable expenses, have increasing burdens. The premium for part B (yes you have to pay for the part of Medicare that does not cover the hospital) has increased 15% this year and the government stated this is largely the result of a single dementia therapy - a pill that costs $56,000. I think we could fix the problem if we required our lawmakers to actually pay for their healthcare. They get it for free. In addition, each gets a multimillion dollar stipend to run their office, separate and apart from their generous salary. For doing what? pushing emails. And they are so afraid of offending any part of their constituency that they spend most of their time arguing about non-issues. Their ridiculous behavior is creating a fertile environment for the next tyrant who will prromise salvation and deliver true misery.