I’ve Glimpsed the Face of Evil, and It’s Blank
September 25, 2007 by Lulu Maude
The story occupied the front page of the Sunday Times, along with a photo and an elaborate diagram. The photo was of an adorable woman cuddling her granddaughter. The diagram, which looked like a free market version of Dante’s Circles of Hell, described the intricate corporate relationships that held all parties responsible for her death as, well, Not Responsible.
Alice Garcia, the aforementioned adorable grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died of complications from infected bedsores after Habana Health Care Center was sold to a complex of investment firms that immediately slashed costs by cutting staff, supplies, and services, the better to return quick profits to its investors. Off went the nurses and aides who took care of the patients. Nursing supplies were in smaller numbers, the remaining caregivers told to Make Do. Mold-spewing vents were unserviced and ignored. Emergency exits were blocked.
And when the accounting for who was responsible for the death of Alice Garcia –and the decline of many of her fellow residents– came in, the answer was, who can tell?
The ownership chart shows no fewer than a dozen different groups. Many nursing homes are part of larger chains, and they are increasingly sold for quick profits by huge investment groups. Profit concerns quickly outweigh those for care. The Byzantine organizational structures, defenders say, became necessary in an industry that was going bankrupt from lawsuits against it.
As we boomers age, services connected to our dear little graying heads are becoming hot properties for people looking to make a buck. And herein lies my objection to our societal academy’s current worship of free markets. And as we pay into our modest retirement accounts, who knows? Perhaps our 401ks are actually investing against our future well being.
It’s hard to look at the ownership chart in the Times and not feel a hopelessness regarding any meaningful health care reform. Whatever money remains in the Medicare-Medicaid systems are being piped to these elaborate complexes that prize profits over care. Insurance companies, investment firms–all have a stake in what will eventually become crucial stakes for us all.
The Times investigative reporting was admirably and distressingly thorough: reporters combed through data of more than 1200 nursing homes purchased by large investment groups since 2000, and more than 14,000 other homes. They were compared in significant care categories and plotted against national averages. In the current anti-regulatory climate, not only are nursing homes getting the short end of the stick via corporate cost-cutting, there are fewer regulators to keep an eye on care itself.
It’s always an interesting experience to read the Times. In one part of the paper are important stories that are the province of the investigative reporting of a great newspaper; in the rest of the paper are lots of ads for and stories of people who have so much money that they can afford homes offered by Sotheby’s and helicopter trips into the wilderness to experience ‘real’ wildness, among other options for all that super-disposable income.
As a culture we have become so distracted by the affluent (and perhaps so eager to be among them) that we can’t pay attention to the concerns that are really a part of our ordinary, quotidian lives. A society as affluent as ours ought to place care for all in a different category from quick profits.
I fear for us.
tags:culture, health care, aging population
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http://somenotesonliving.blogspot.com/search/label/health
(”Medicare to ” ..and SiCKO” )
ok the reason i took above short cut is that i lost the best comment i probably ever wrote in my life on your blog lulu Maude when i read your post there early this morning. DRAT. my browser froze..anyhow
I used to work in managed care and also a good friend “the Hitman” who is actually in SiCKO. (which i just saw last week end at the drive in x3 fun !) Anyhow in the movie, He calls the managed care system the the labyrinth it is ..and says “you don’t fall through the cracks, no , someone makes the cracks and sweeps you in” (see SiCKO)
Well ok follow the link above if u want to
TODAY (tues) in House debate on C-span re: S-CHIP child health program was Nixon era Redux (it was he who gave Kaiser the go ahead) THE SAME words were used today, “socialized medicine” welfare, Socialism ouu scarey scarey. These knee jerk talking points ” welfare state,”ironically it is the working poor who do benefit from C-ships. I hope people will if they have time to kill do read my two posts..from August under health. You will see where i am coming from. Edler Care is really at risk..due to changes coming in medicare..and what they will not cover. hence my posts -
Today i noticed that Genuine Health Care for people is now called having “policies” everybody should have a “policy” that is the meme.
We all gotta have a policy,well accept for those who don’t or who cannot afford it to BUY one, or have it deducted from their checks.
Or the subsequent bills that come with said “policies”.i.e. co pays etc. Mine on medicare are going higher and higher. (i did not and would not ever give the medicare deduction from my ssdi to an HMO,nor did i join part D) but i digress as usual, AARP = EVIL. I live on the one check.
BUT HELLO - these managed care “insurance policies” lauded by the politicians now including medicare..(a dangerous precident)
they are managed with a mission to deny care. And they all are to find a way to put share holders profits over people.
Like you indicated, it is a system where we are forced to re inforce the system of profit with 401ks , mutual funds etc. we get about 3 choices, high , medium or low risk, VS..do you want this to go to Mother Jones approved companies etc. What you said is SO TRUE , Lulu !
Bottom line - we have to get to profit centers out of medicine. and out of war..this same twisted responsibility is in motion with the mercenary private constractors in Iraq….
WE find money to kill people with wars, we can find money to help people..thats west Western Civilized Countries do and their people have a wonderful quality of life.
GREAT POST.
ok the link is screwed up..but i got health tags and Sicko has one of its own.and the Medicare one starts with Medicare in the title. as i said - if anyone has time to kill. both are from August. This is a subject near and dear to my heart.
I do not have healthcare and I am glad its part of this election cycle..but I fear that’s all the candidates are doing..giving it lip service…they really don’t intend to change shit..and even if they do..the Rethugs will do their best to quash it.
Its gonna be a long road..they are trotting out the bogey man of socialized medicine and all the lies about it, Most of the dems are in fact deeply entrenched due to health NOT care lobbiests..taking the profit center out of health care, will require nothing short of violent revolution. People also have some deeply ingrained mis information about welfare. The talking points are mostly lies, and therefore most people swallow them because they hit them in their knees etc. A single payer plan, for all - would be the greatest thing to happen to this country EVER. Just the stress off of people would improve the quality of life, the productivity of people and so much more. We can hope. Ex patriots in other countries with National Health Care for all, actually have “survivors guilt” for those left behind here. Their lives are so enriched and their stress is so much less, than us average americans,who fight each other over the crumbs, the system throws out. And while we fight, the profiteers get wealthier.
Is a national shame.