Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Is health care just legal human trafficking?

Debra Blaine, MD
Policy
January 2, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

The standard business model around which our world revolves has no place in the “business” of human life, which is what the commercialized industry of health care has become. To be the most successful, businesses work to optimize profits by minimizing their operating costs, which include material resources and all the steps involved in distributing their product. This business model, in some form, is applied universally from the manufacturing and marketing of microchips, televisions, and Halloween candy to farming harvests and consulting firms. But it is not meant to be applied to human life.

If the microchip is faulty and not performing as expected, the company scraps it and redesigns a better one. If it is simply a bad batch that was produced, that batch is recalled, and the next lot number is sent in its place. The product version is always expendable for the good of the company. Businesses focus on their profit margins, and their products are only a means to that end.

That game cannot be played with human life. There is no monetary value that can ethically be applied to a human being, and humans frequently “do not perform as expected.” Sometimes this may be because the physician did not offer the most up-to-date, cost-effective treatment, but sometimes it is because the patient was non-compliant, and even more frequently, it is because human life is not neat and tidy like microchips and televisions.

Too often, the venture capitalists who own and manage health insurance companies, hospital systems, and pharmaceutical companies, have neither knowledge nor prurient interest in human physiology and psychology, and yet, they create the algorithms by which care is provided.

Our current system treats medicine as a commodity, not as an essential service. We the people are preyed upon by tycoons who wish to sell their services, and for whom quality control is not a moral directive but a necessary expense. There is no acknowledgment of the sanctity of human life, and caring for humans has become equivalent to manufacturing microchips. I keep asking myself: how can we adjust our course?

An important first step would be to equalize reimbursements from insurers and to allow any qualified physician to be able to collect from their patient’s insurance company for services rendered. The decreased “negotiating power” of small group practices has been a catalyst in forcing physicians to buy into corporate systems; currently, a service performed by a cardiologist in a solo practice earns him a fraction of the reimbursement provided to a cardiologist for the same service in a large group practice. This discriminatory nature of insurance companies has shepherded physicians into large corporate systems in order to survive because the individual doctors cannot afford to support their practices on the remittances they receive. This, in turn, has impelled patients to leave doctors who have known them for years and who understand their health nuances.

Complex administrative requirements have been artificially increased to satisfy companies that have no understanding of what it really means to care for human beings, and these have necessitated hiring additional staff just to code and submit records for payments. This further constitutes a financial burden on a small or solo practice.

If each physician were to receive the same payment for the same service and needed to pay salaries only to those competent individuals who contribute to the quality treatment of patients, large corporate structures would not be able to force physicians to maintain that company’s standards of high levels of “productivity” (i.e., volume of patients per day), nor would doctors be judged and penalized by surveys in which the patient may downgrade the practice because an inappropriate antibiotic was correctly not prescribed for a cold, or the coffee creamer selection in the waiting room was not to a patient’s liking. Patients would likewise be able to stay with the doctor who knows them well and reestablish long-term relationships built on trust, camaraderie, and mutual respect.

When corporate medicine, in true adherence to the business model, sends “customer satisfaction surveys” to patients, the corporation’s consumers are invited to criticize the care they receive, and this shifts the priority of treatment from healing the patient to pleasing them instead. And all the while, the whip is being flogged on the doctor to see more patients, code more procedures, and move patients along more quickly. All to the ultimate goal of increased revenue. Is it any wonder that physicians are experiencing burnout and depression, and have the highest rate of suicide per capita than any other profession in the U.S.?

I fear that if we do not address these issues at their roots, we will soon no longer be able to expect anyone to invest 11 to 14 years after high school and a half to three-quarters of a million dollars training to become a physician. In their place, we will have physician assistants and nurse practitioners exclusively, with no access to an experienced doctor for consultation; good people but with markedly less experience, training, and acumen. America will still have the “product” of excellent medicine without the means to “distribute” it. Thus, ultimately, the current business model, as applied to health, will fail. But how many humans will have to die or suffer unnecessary morbidity first?

It is not that we do not have the financial resources to provide appropriate care; they are just being rerouted into the pockets of large corporate holders. Human life is being forfeited for the sake of the profit margin, and it is being done “legally.” How much is it worth to save a life? How is this not human trafficking?

Debra Blaine is a family physician and author of Code Blue: The Other End of the Stethoscope. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Debra Blaine.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com 

ADVERTISEMENT

Prev

Physicians are suffering, and they need help

January 1, 2020 Kevin 5
…
Next

Stop cutting patients off their prescribed benzodiazepines

January 2, 2020 Kevin 17
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Physicians are suffering, and they need help
Next Post >
Stop cutting patients off their prescribed benzodiazepines

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • If health care is a right, so should having legal insurance

    Thomas D. Guastavino, MD
  • Health care is not a service commodity

    Peter Spence, MD, MBA
  • Turn physicians into powerful health care influencers

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Why the health care industry must prioritize health equity

    George T. Mathew, MD, MBA

More in Policy

  • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

    Ilan Shapiro, MD
  • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

    BJ Ferguson
  • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

    Carlin Lockwood
  • What Adam Smith would say about America’s for-profit health care

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • The lab behind the lens: Equity begins with diagnosis

    Michael Misialek, MD
  • Conflicts of interest are eroding trust in U.S. health agencies

    Martha Rosenberg
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why being a physician mom is harder than anyone admits

      Cynthia Chen-Joea, DO, MPH | Physician
    • 9 domains that will define the future of medical education

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

      Sarah White, APRN | Education
    • Why local cardiac CT scans could save your life

      Benjamin Cohen, MD | Conditions
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why being a physician mom is harder than anyone admits

      Cynthia Chen-Joea, DO, MPH | Physician
    • 9 domains that will define the future of medical education

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

      Sarah White, APRN | Education
    • Why local cardiac CT scans could save your life

      Benjamin Cohen, MD | Conditions
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Is health care just legal human trafficking?
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...