Money Over People

The very fact that nursing homes, an essential and sensitive social function, are now called an “industry” reflects a total perversion of their purpose.

Doctors are increasingly being replaced by nurse practitioners and physician assistants who can perform many of the same duties and generate much of the same revenue for less than half of the pay.

Owners of multiple nursing homes operated as virtual slumlords, neglecting buildings, staffing and patient care all the while paying themselves and their families lavishly.

Chevron's announcement came as they and other big oil producers are set to announce a record $199 billion in collective 2022 profits, 50% higher than the previous record.

U.S. Transportation Department is reportedly investigating whether three airlines have scheduled flights they know they can't staff.

A review of more than two dozen Georgia title pawn contracts found that annual interest rates in typical TitleMax contracts ranged from 119% to 179%.

There are three words that don't belong together: "health," "care," "Investors." Yet a San Francisco conference just showcased worries in this "industry" that they may not be able to keep ripping off the public as much as they desire.

Payday lending is inherently predatory and private equity is turbocharging its abuses, enlarging the burden it places on low-income individuals and borrowers of color.

Critics warn that profit-hungry private equity ownership could result in higher prices for patients and insurers, more unnecessary surgery, and less access to care for patients on Medicaid or those who are uninsured or underinsured.

Banks have identified medical credit cards as a lucrative opportunity to profit off of the worsening crisis of patients who are unable to afford their medical care.

Southwest Airlines made a risky gamble that mass layoffs and spending billions of dollars on handouts to investors rather than fixing infrastructure would pay off with record profits. The airline lost that bet badly.

In recent years, hospitals of every stripe have opened obstetrics emergency departments, or OBEDs, which means healthy patients get bills for emergency care they didn’t know they got.

As Southwest Pilot Larry Lonero writes, "...two decades of neglect takes several years to overcome. And, unfortunately to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down this week as a routine winter storm broke our 1990’s operating system."

As Americans are overwhelmed with medical bills, patient financing is now a multibillion-dollar business—with profit margins topping 29 percent in the patient financing industry.

Attacking inflation by hiking interest rates is not addressing the real situation and cause. We should be hiking tax rates on corporations engaged in price gouging and profiteering.

The U.S. currently pays around $30 per dose for Pfizer's shot, which is estimated to cost $1.18 per dose to make. Yet the company plans to pump the price to $110–$130 per dose.