Just a reminder, as if we needed one, that there are perverse incentives in the operation of a for-profit financing system for health care. From the Wall Street Journal:
Health-insurer Aetna Inc. (AET) raised its current-year operating earnings forecast based on results in the fourth quarter while also ratcheting up an earlier 2012 projection analysts viewed as leaving room for improvement.
Like its managed-care peers, Hartford-based Aetna has benefited all year from a trend of patients using health services lightly due to economic turmoil. When patients avoid doctor and hospital visits, insurers cover fewer bills, which benefits earnings.
So, Aetna, as your shareholders celebrate Christmas profits, how many of your so-called "members" have delayed necessary cancer treatments or other preventive care (yes, it's not all covered by PPACA)?
As your profits rise, Aetna, so does the death and human suffering rise for which your executives and shareholders are solely responsible.
It's time to occupy healthcare and put these insurance bloodsuckers out of their misery with a single payer, Medicare for all system.