Oh God Kirsten. When this flashed on the NYT yesterday I thought ALL the thoughts. About how broken it all is. How this guy could be a good family man and still be responsible, at least in part, for so much endless pain and suffering. About how he was walking into a financial results meeting of pat- each- other- on- the - back business people profiting madly from the health care industry. How business executives are exonerated from all of the massive awfulness they perpetrate. It was an awful murder. When we start unpeeling the layers however, there is rot to the core.
I've lived in Italy for only two years so far, but already the entire "healthcare" system of my native U.S. just feels completely, utterly bonkers to me. The fact that the RICHEST country in the history of humanity does not offer at least basic healthcare coverage to all its citizens is just insane. The fact that Americans have simply accepted that, and in fact claim that such a system is somehow superior to that of other advanced countries—despite all the evidence to the contrary—is inexplicable.
Yes it really is incredible how brainwashed so many Americans are about the “superiority” of this garbage health care system. I know so many Americans in Italy who rave about the health care and never stop being shocked that they either don’t have to pay anything or if they do it’s next to nothing.
In the military there is a law that the highest paid worker cannot make more than 10X the lowest. (I’m paraphrasing not sure the exact figure). This is what we need in corporations instead of wildly unchecked ceo salaries. Eg. When we bailed banks out during 2008 recession.
Whenever I receive a survey, of any kind, from health insurance, or an offer for an in-home free physical exam, (offer happens once you get senior age) from our health insurance, or its affiliates, I think to myself immediately, the company doesn’t really care about me or other people who get this survey, or an in-home exam because they care about you, they just want more information to analyze or predict future costs for their benefit, not mine. Stay away from corporate surveys. An in-home exam from a stranger nurse, seems a bit creepy too.
I also go to the doctor as little as possible and only share the necessities of symptoms, and I ask questions. Hippocratic Oath or not, in my opinion, our healthcare system is a business just like everything else in our culture. Our citizens need more critical thinking education when it comes to just about everything in our culture.
It is very sad a man lost his life just doing his job, even if no one likes how it is done. People with jobs with the power to ruin lives might need some ongoing empathy or emotional intelligence training to save their own butts. But in reality, Stockholders and capitalism have no soul. It is how our economic system works. It’s just sad and tragic all the way around. I don’t ever see the status quo changing to include an economy with heart. Money is the driver, not humans in every endeavor in America.
Thank you Kirsten. Thank you. As usual, you reflect on the deeper issues underneath the headlines, while fiercely condemning murder for any reason. You raise excellent points/questions and invite our leaders to PAUSE AND THINK what their leadership might actually DO....
As both a health care provider and a person living with several chronic autoimmune conditions, I am in contact daily with the dysfunction of our "health care system". Terribly inaccurate name. When we had "Health Care Reform" (Bless Obamacare) we didn't, really - we had Insurance reform. To be transparent, I'm a fan of socialized medicine and/or Medicare for All. The amount of time our staff and providers spend arguing with insurance companies over the care that our MD recommends is ridiculous (and costly to us, the clinic owners). Our MD has 30 yrs of experience, and IS providing Health Care with love, mindfulness, and compassion at the core of each interaction! It is insulting to have medical opinions challenged. Insulting, and detrimental to Health and Care.
As a patient, when my dr's staff has to spend hours arguing for me to get the necessary medication and supplies I need for my autoimmune conditions (another side rant - which are on the rise due to many stress-factors including our unregulated food system, poor understanding of environmental toxins on our health, and the chronic stress you've written about so beautifully and extensively....) - it just really breaks my heart that "this is our reality."
Who can stop this madness? How can we agree as a culture that CARING for each other is ALWAYS the right thing to do??? I could really go on but I have many people to help care for today ;) Just had to weigh in with gratitude and a bit of my own perspective on the injustice. I'm truly sad for the family of this slain leader. And feel so sad for all (patients and providers) who have suffered due to the medical industrial complex as it is, driven by financial profit, in America these days.....
Imagine if we had the economic system of Suzy Orman? …”People first, then money, then things” in this order of priority when spending, saving, investing, selling, working, or the giving of your time, attention, and resources, especially “when caring for the least of these…” as one famous man once said.
When I was at UHG the top of the house was all bankers and former Anderson partners; this poor soul was also out of consulting. Not healthcare. These places are run by financiers and they live like pashas, all for basically running a utility company. ‘Beyond broken’ is as apt a description of healthcare as I can think of.
This is one of those situations where I have space in my mind and heart for both the family of the man killed and for EVERYONE who is hurting in some way because the healthcare industry is broken.
Now that folks are living longer and having to use all of their assets for healthcare, bye-bye generational wealth. Maybe now their would-have-been heirs will join the movement to push for universal healthcare.
Yep they bankrupt families for care that was promised to them and which was paid for through outrageous premiums and deductibles. The whole thing is a scam
Thank you Kirsten for saying the quiet part out loud. The American ideal of a free enterprise system needs a severe overhaul, but the sentiment required for that demands a different mindset that the last election results have pointed out, we as a society are not ready for that mindset change. Everything is for sale in the US and if the buyer is willing to pay the price, so be it, let freedom ring. But basic survival needs, food, shelter, clothing, health are all part of the pay to play system and unfortunately the price keeps getting raised, seemingly unchecked. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer phenomenon is not rocket science, it's where we find ourselves now because we can. Taking health care, along with all the other basic survival needs, out of the present corporate buyback broke back system is going to require a societal change we are not willing to accept. Yet.
A quote from a conversation between Richard Coniff and arachnologist Bill Eberhard comes to mind:
"Pay more attention to how the stitching coheres than to the stitcher."
It's not that I feel hopeless about our leaders correcting the abysmal course of health care in this country; it's that I feel clear-eyed about the intricate systems that produced what we have and I have no illusions about the impossibility of those systems changing any time in the foreseeable future. For a large-scale system to transform, on the most basic level there must first be THE WILL FOR IT TO CHANGE. Solutions are not hard to find; they are abundant and we know well how to apply them. But the reality is that this gentleman who was murdered was one individual in a craftily-spun web of greed, profiteering, and inhumanity that began well before his ascendency to the C-suite and will continue well after.
Imagine: Even if he himself were to suddenly awaken, recalling his social contract with other living beings in a civil society, or finding an ethical compass that he felt suddenly compelled to follow, he would make not a single dent in the web he is in. His newfound orientation to genuine patient care would be mocked and shamed by the executives, board members, pharmaceutical companies, and lawmakers who surround him. He would be portrayed as deranged and he'd be booted from his corner office before he even got out of bed.
For me, there's a difference between being hopeless and despairing and simply seeing clearly. It is not the stitcher who troubles me; it's the stitching. These systems don't have the desire to change. America has woven a brutal web; many of us will continue to be strangled within it.
I agree that it can feel hopeless but I’d add that the people have to believe there is an alternative and right now too many Americans have bought the propaganda that this is how it has to be to have the best healthcare system in the world (even though anybody who has been exposed to a medical system in another industrialized country knows how ridiculous this is). So there is a lot of work to do.
So much work to do, exactly. Undo, really. Perhaps of interest, six factors needed for systemic change, from the original Spiral Dynamics model:
- Neurophysiological potential (the will to change)
- Resolution of existential problems at the current level (meaning hitting rock bottom)
- Dissonance (from within or outside or both relative to the person or system)
- Insight as to how to meet new problems (we have this in spades)
- Removal of barriers to implementation of insights (impossible here in the near-term re: entrenched interests)
- Consolidation of new ways of being
This is why I don't mean to say 'accept hopelessness.' It's more like 'accept reality' until the conditions are really, truly ripe for a new one. This will be a very long time.
Most definitely. I do think (and maybe now this is me being hopeful) that droves of people are becoming aware that there are other ways - not just to heal and recover in terms of health care, but to love, receive love, and to live. The bizarre upside to death-eaters at the helms is that they make what this society is missing stark ravingly apparent. If we ever needed an example of how NOT to be in relationship, leadership, teamship, I mean, WOW. Thanks for the tutorial, guys.
Until the ship points in a truly humane direction, however, we must remember to take good care of ourselves and each other. I always return to at least this. This, we can do. So thank you for how you take care of us with your work. I'll try and do the same.
Oh God Kirsten. When this flashed on the NYT yesterday I thought ALL the thoughts. About how broken it all is. How this guy could be a good family man and still be responsible, at least in part, for so much endless pain and suffering. About how he was walking into a financial results meeting of pat- each- other- on- the - back business people profiting madly from the health care industry. How business executives are exonerated from all of the massive awfulness they perpetrate. It was an awful murder. When we start unpeeling the layers however, there is rot to the core.
It's all so awful.
I've lived in Italy for only two years so far, but already the entire "healthcare" system of my native U.S. just feels completely, utterly bonkers to me. The fact that the RICHEST country in the history of humanity does not offer at least basic healthcare coverage to all its citizens is just insane. The fact that Americans have simply accepted that, and in fact claim that such a system is somehow superior to that of other advanced countries—despite all the evidence to the contrary—is inexplicable.
Yes it really is incredible how brainwashed so many Americans are about the “superiority” of this garbage health care system. I know so many Americans in Italy who rave about the health care and never stop being shocked that they either don’t have to pay anything or if they do it’s next to nothing.
In the military there is a law that the highest paid worker cannot make more than 10X the lowest. (I’m paraphrasing not sure the exact figure). This is what we need in corporations instead of wildly unchecked ceo salaries. Eg. When we bailed banks out during 2008 recession.
Edit my hubs confirmed it’s 8X!
Whenever I receive a survey, of any kind, from health insurance, or an offer for an in-home free physical exam, (offer happens once you get senior age) from our health insurance, or its affiliates, I think to myself immediately, the company doesn’t really care about me or other people who get this survey, or an in-home exam because they care about you, they just want more information to analyze or predict future costs for their benefit, not mine. Stay away from corporate surveys. An in-home exam from a stranger nurse, seems a bit creepy too.
I also go to the doctor as little as possible and only share the necessities of symptoms, and I ask questions. Hippocratic Oath or not, in my opinion, our healthcare system is a business just like everything else in our culture. Our citizens need more critical thinking education when it comes to just about everything in our culture.
It is very sad a man lost his life just doing his job, even if no one likes how it is done. People with jobs with the power to ruin lives might need some ongoing empathy or emotional intelligence training to save their own butts. But in reality, Stockholders and capitalism have no soul. It is how our economic system works. It’s just sad and tragic all the way around. I don’t ever see the status quo changing to include an economy with heart. Money is the driver, not humans in every endeavor in America.
I’m glad to know I’m not going to be the only one in hell for thinking the bad thoughts.
Thank you Kirsten. Thank you. As usual, you reflect on the deeper issues underneath the headlines, while fiercely condemning murder for any reason. You raise excellent points/questions and invite our leaders to PAUSE AND THINK what their leadership might actually DO....
As both a health care provider and a person living with several chronic autoimmune conditions, I am in contact daily with the dysfunction of our "health care system". Terribly inaccurate name. When we had "Health Care Reform" (Bless Obamacare) we didn't, really - we had Insurance reform. To be transparent, I'm a fan of socialized medicine and/or Medicare for All. The amount of time our staff and providers spend arguing with insurance companies over the care that our MD recommends is ridiculous (and costly to us, the clinic owners). Our MD has 30 yrs of experience, and IS providing Health Care with love, mindfulness, and compassion at the core of each interaction! It is insulting to have medical opinions challenged. Insulting, and detrimental to Health and Care.
As a patient, when my dr's staff has to spend hours arguing for me to get the necessary medication and supplies I need for my autoimmune conditions (another side rant - which are on the rise due to many stress-factors including our unregulated food system, poor understanding of environmental toxins on our health, and the chronic stress you've written about so beautifully and extensively....) - it just really breaks my heart that "this is our reality."
Who can stop this madness? How can we agree as a culture that CARING for each other is ALWAYS the right thing to do??? I could really go on but I have many people to help care for today ;) Just had to weigh in with gratitude and a bit of my own perspective on the injustice. I'm truly sad for the family of this slain leader. And feel so sad for all (patients and providers) who have suffered due to the medical industrial complex as it is, driven by financial profit, in America these days.....
I agree—single payer is the only solution.
P.S.
Imagine if we had the economic system of Suzy Orman? …”People first, then money, then things” in this order of priority when spending, saving, investing, selling, working, or the giving of your time, attention, and resources, especially “when caring for the least of these…” as one famous man once said.
When I was at UHG the top of the house was all bankers and former Anderson partners; this poor soul was also out of consulting. Not healthcare. These places are run by financiers and they live like pashas, all for basically running a utility company. ‘Beyond broken’ is as apt a description of healthcare as I can think of.
I actually know a physician whose response, when told about the murder, was, “Good!”
I believe it —ppl are reacting like they would if a mafia boss was killed or something
Yes—that’s a funny-not funny analogy.
my husband, a retired physician, said almost exactly this
This is one of those situations where I have space in my mind and heart for both the family of the man killed and for EVERYONE who is hurting in some way because the healthcare industry is broken.
Now that folks are living longer and having to use all of their assets for healthcare, bye-bye generational wealth. Maybe now their would-have-been heirs will join the movement to push for universal healthcare.
Yep they bankrupt families for care that was promised to them and which was paid for through outrageous premiums and deductibles. The whole thing is a scam
The healthcare industry are probably major donors to both major parties, so sadly wouldn’t hold my breath in waiting for change.
Yep they sure are
Thank you Kirsten for saying the quiet part out loud. The American ideal of a free enterprise system needs a severe overhaul, but the sentiment required for that demands a different mindset that the last election results have pointed out, we as a society are not ready for that mindset change. Everything is for sale in the US and if the buyer is willing to pay the price, so be it, let freedom ring. But basic survival needs, food, shelter, clothing, health are all part of the pay to play system and unfortunately the price keeps getting raised, seemingly unchecked. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer phenomenon is not rocket science, it's where we find ourselves now because we can. Taking health care, along with all the other basic survival needs, out of the present corporate buyback broke back system is going to require a societal change we are not willing to accept. Yet.
Yes to all this
Yep. Putting profit over genuine healthcare will do it. As one comment I read stated: "We're sorry sir, but murder isn't covered in your plan."
And also this is just a brilliant piece.
A quote from a conversation between Richard Coniff and arachnologist Bill Eberhard comes to mind:
"Pay more attention to how the stitching coheres than to the stitcher."
It's not that I feel hopeless about our leaders correcting the abysmal course of health care in this country; it's that I feel clear-eyed about the intricate systems that produced what we have and I have no illusions about the impossibility of those systems changing any time in the foreseeable future. For a large-scale system to transform, on the most basic level there must first be THE WILL FOR IT TO CHANGE. Solutions are not hard to find; they are abundant and we know well how to apply them. But the reality is that this gentleman who was murdered was one individual in a craftily-spun web of greed, profiteering, and inhumanity that began well before his ascendency to the C-suite and will continue well after.
Imagine: Even if he himself were to suddenly awaken, recalling his social contract with other living beings in a civil society, or finding an ethical compass that he felt suddenly compelled to follow, he would make not a single dent in the web he is in. His newfound orientation to genuine patient care would be mocked and shamed by the executives, board members, pharmaceutical companies, and lawmakers who surround him. He would be portrayed as deranged and he'd be booted from his corner office before he even got out of bed.
For me, there's a difference between being hopeless and despairing and simply seeing clearly. It is not the stitcher who troubles me; it's the stitching. These systems don't have the desire to change. America has woven a brutal web; many of us will continue to be strangled within it.
I agree that it can feel hopeless but I’d add that the people have to believe there is an alternative and right now too many Americans have bought the propaganda that this is how it has to be to have the best healthcare system in the world (even though anybody who has been exposed to a medical system in another industrialized country knows how ridiculous this is). So there is a lot of work to do.
So much work to do, exactly. Undo, really. Perhaps of interest, six factors needed for systemic change, from the original Spiral Dynamics model:
- Neurophysiological potential (the will to change)
- Resolution of existential problems at the current level (meaning hitting rock bottom)
- Dissonance (from within or outside or both relative to the person or system)
- Insight as to how to meet new problems (we have this in spades)
- Removal of barriers to implementation of insights (impossible here in the near-term re: entrenched interests)
- Consolidation of new ways of being
This is why I don't mean to say 'accept hopelessness.' It's more like 'accept reality' until the conditions are really, truly ripe for a new one. This will be a very long time.
Well we are def getting close to rock bottom! Just need more ppl to realize there is an alternative to this late stage capitalist hellscape
Most definitely. I do think (and maybe now this is me being hopeful) that droves of people are becoming aware that there are other ways - not just to heal and recover in terms of health care, but to love, receive love, and to live. The bizarre upside to death-eaters at the helms is that they make what this society is missing stark ravingly apparent. If we ever needed an example of how NOT to be in relationship, leadership, teamship, I mean, WOW. Thanks for the tutorial, guys.
Until the ship points in a truly humane direction, however, we must remember to take good care of ourselves and each other. I always return to at least this. This, we can do. So thank you for how you take care of us with your work. I'll try and do the same.
With heart, Sun