EXPOSED: For-Profit Health Care Crisis

A North Carolina hospital owned by private equity giant Apollo is descending into extreme chaos. People are dying and ER doctors say it's the worst they've ever seen. We went inside with Moe Tkacik of American Economic Liberties Project to investigate the meltdown of for-profit health care in rural America.
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[renriviera]

“Capitalists should never be allowed near a healthcare system. They hold sick children hostage as they force parents to bankrupt themselves in the desperate scramble to pay for medical care. The sick do not have a choice. Medical care is not a consumable good. We can choose to buy a used or new care, shop at a boutique or a thrift store, but there is no choice between illness and health.”

~ Chris Hedges

[aurora.the.explorer]

PLEASE understand how powerless doctors and nurses are in this struggle. And as an emergency doctor I feel the need to highlight Healthcare Corporation of America, or HCA, as a major offender in this. They basically own Florida healthcare at this point, and they absolutely handcuff doctors forcing for-profit medical decisions on us. It's despicable.

[bizzmoneyb]

if you have Health Insurance, THEY should NEVER decide ANYTHING!! Congress should pass a Bill that ANY tests, procedures, medications, devices, etc that your DOCTOR orders IS COVERED!

[ammerk]

Thank you for exposing what is happening at the hospital in Wilson. I wouldn’t even want my dog treated there.

[ffvbnbvxdvhggb]

"it really started to feel like a communist takeover" is a really darkly funny line considering that it is just flatly describing a capitalist takeover

[bumblebootwiddletoes]

1. We must ban private equity from the entire healthcare industry.
2. We need to strictly regulate the corporate structuring & modeling of all private equity firms.

[rgzhaffie]

This is what you get combining "private equity" vultures with rural hospitals devoid of any unionized workforce capable of putting up any resistance against their depredations.

[jrsnc]

Wow. My wife has worked there for the last number of years and the bullshit she and her co-workers have to deal with from a management standpoint would curl your hair.

[amitsharma-echu]

I worked at that hospital for almost 5 years and it’s a mess! I reported few incidences of wrongdoings to the CMO and it was brushed under the carpet! The hospital is understaffed for sure and won’t hire more to save on salaries etc. Physicians and nurses are stretched to the limit because of high census. The administration is hawkish!

[traceyrychewhite]

This Country is getting too out of hand criminally. The large corporations run everything. One thing is for sure, they want us dead. This is heartbreaking 💔.

[tylermane]

I used to work in local media in my area, and covered the controversies of the local hospital. It was horrific. A desolate place that was nothing but understaffed and for-profit.

[blatantanarchist]

I live in a major city and my PCP told me years ago that he answers to the insurance company. I asked what about me, the patient? He said unfortunately, the insurance company dictates what can and cannot be treated at each visit. One issue per visit.

[montanacrone]

That is Capitalism, not communism. Greed over the mission. We Americans should be ashamed.

[beeinthehive]

What the hell is that guy talking about by saying it was like a "communist takeover"? Fool. It was closer to being communist before it was privatized, which is *capitalism.*

[Mark-zuoz]

Our two local hospitals were bought out recently. The decline in care can be seen everywhere. It takes 30 minutes or more to get a response when you call for a nurse. Also, services are reduced or eliminated over the objections of the local community. As someone who has worked in the medical industry his entire career, I can remember the first big budget cuts and the introduction of the "Do more with less" mantra. It's been downhill ever since.

[beeinthehive]

This happened in my small city. Privatizing will NEVER put anything over profits.

[michaeld]

This is horrific. An utterly dystopian nightmare. Medical care should not ever be for profit.

[elonmusksellssnakeoil]

"communist takeover". My brother in Christ, you are *LITERALLY* describing a _capitalist_ takeover.

[DrKevinLowe]

Wilson Medical Center is a symptom of a broken system that allows this situation to develop in the first place. It is a countrywide system that needs urgent repair.

[bizzmoneyb]

people and medical needs should never be in a "For Profit" system like we are. We spend the MOST in the WORLD on Healthcare and its a mess! We could provide Universal Healthcare and spend half of what we do!