Modern Healthcare, Corporate Greed or Human Needs?

A presentation by Mauricio Rosas to a United Unitarian Humanist Church, Plant City, FL
Why even discuss this topic at this meeting of humanist?  Easy.  Not only are we philosophical thinkers we are also humanitarians; we need more independent analysis and scrutiny as to the reasons as to how we deliver healthcare in the 21^st century.

But first we need to go back to the times of Leonardo da Vinci.  Not only was he a great thinker he  was not afraid to delve into the human body and dissect it to see how it was composed and structured.  Unlike his predecessors of ancient Greece, who used deduction and thought as opposed to the scientific method to practice medicine. Da Vinci went far beyond what was the norm at that time and secretly explored cadavers that were stolen from morgues nearby his home. Fortunately, Da Vinci did not face the harsh criticism and ridicule that Galileo faced simply because he was outspoken and challenged the Roman Catholic church to its theory of the earth being at the center of the universe.  Of course we all know that I am at the center of the Universe. Thankfully, Da Vinci left very good details of his findings that allowed us to move forward into modern medicine and the scientific method: 

• Observation and description of phenomena; Formulation of an hypothesis, Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations;  Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

Somewhere….. way above the rainbow, many have lost site as to the purpose of medicine.  Medicine’s primary purpose is not to become wealthy but to make sick people well.  There was a time when there was very little difference between East and West.  The biggest difference was that the East, in particular the Chinese, had a well-developed infrastructure of medical knowledge and practice.  The West unfortunately had to face a dark period that caused it to lose much of the knowledge discovered by the Greeks, like Archimedes.  Even the lost teaching of Egyptians physicians was a great loss to Western civilization. 
Frances Bacon the great apologist for scientific inquiry relates the story of the Sphinx. He says, “The fable of the @Sphinx is an elegant and wise one, invented apparently in allusion to Science; especially in its application to practical life. Science, being the wonder of the ignorant and unskillful, may be absurdly called a monster… Again Sphinx proposes to men a variety of hard questions and riddles which she received from the Muses… when it  passes from Muse to Sphinx, that is from contemplation to practice, whereby there necessity for present action, choice and decision, then they begin to be painful and cruel….  The question posed to by the Muses to the Sphinx shows the passage of science from the contemplative to the practice but he is not interested in identifying the current knowledge of the scientific method.  Instead he is trying to conform and explain that the Sphinx is real and exists and represents the menacing side of science.  The Sphinx human head is conjoined with the lion’s body cannot be separated and that graft constitutes a monstrous creature." 

The same could be said of a corporate conglomerate Sphinx. It's head is of its greedy CEO whose salary has increased by 726% over the past decades.The head of this corporate conglomerate Sphinx also includes its investors. The body is of the soulless corporate conglomerate exploiting its workers. These are conjoined and cannot be separated because of its duty to report a profit to its investors, at the expense of its workers whose average pay increased from 2000 - 2011 a mere 32%  This creates a monstrous abomination. They claim their interest is to improve our quality of life but are they?  No! The corporate influence in all its facets of healthcare is to its investors, not the recipients of the modern healthcare model. We are strung along by a litany of medicines, unnecessary procedures all in the name of progress. Meanwhile, our incomes and savings are depleted by the abomination of “Greed.” @Greed has become the corporate system of excesses in the delivery of health services. Due to its abuse of power corporate greed is forcing doctors to perform unnecessary procedures to avoid @malpractice lawsuits, increasing the cost of healthcare.  Ask yourself.  If I had a broken leg do I need a CAT Scan or MRI?  No! A common broken leg requires nothing more than simple x-ray. I think it’s enough. Do you?
 
To avoid some of the trappings of large healthcare conglomerates, I prefer to get my healthcare from local providers and pharmacies. Just as Mr. Rodgers (Yes PBS) taught me with his song, “Who are the people in your neighborhood.” To this day I believe in his motto and my health is better due to the personal relationships I have developed with my local healthcare providers.

Dedicated to my medical team

Dr. Muqtadir – Hand Surgeon in Tampa
Dr. Ubillos –   Infectious Diseases
Dr. Leonard – Chiropractor
Kathy, Nicole, Rose and Yuolly – Pharmaceutical Team

Source:  

"Apologist: Maximum Truth In Minimum Time," by Rick Cornish

"Formal and Material Causality in Science - School of Philosophy," by Robert Sokolowski
"National Average Wage Index," www.ssa.gov
"CEO pay and the top 1%How executive compensation and financial-sector pay have fueled income inequality," by Lawrence Mishel and Natalie Sabadish | May 2, 2012, www.epi.org

The Cheesecake Factory Spins a Healthcare Tale

While the CEO of The Cheesecake Factory is complaining of the new Obamacare's (ACA) premiums etc… Saying, in this video, the cost may be passed down to their customers.  The truth is on their investor and store websites. Both illustrate how they may cheat their hourly employees from healthcare insurance.

Cheesecake Factory Hourly Restaurant Staff Benefits

"Generally, to initially qualify for our hourly staff member level Group Health Plan, you must meet the average hours per week as required by that location/restaurant/concept through the initial eligibility period which varies by concept. If you meet these requirements, you and your eligible dependents may apply for Medical, Dental, Life and AD&D coverage, effective the first of the month following the initial eligibility period. To maintain eligibility, you must continue to work the average required hours at your location/restaurant/concept."

Something in their statement is missing.  An explanation of eligibility.  To be eligible, an hourly employee must work a minimum of 25 hours or more weekly.  It's more generous than most companies but it could also encourage restaurant managers to cut hourly employees to less than 25 hours a week, in turn denying the healthcare insurance benefit. With the new laws, all Cheesecake Factory employees will be eligible for healthcare insurance regardless of how many hours they work.

The top five officials don't worry about their health insurance coverage. All together they earn a combined salary of $8,447,314 a long with health insurance. They're not suddenly going broke. In fact they're quite successful.  Their "sales have more than tripled from $540 million to approx. $1.8 billion over the last ten years."  They plan new store openings and continued growth. Their bottom line may be affected by the new law but if their fiscal trend continues, I don't see prices going-up.

Why all the fuss?

The negative news networks need an audience in order to sell advertising spots. What's the best way to keep those ads running?  Fear mongering. Fear creates stress. Stress creates illness. Illness necessitates health insurance. Health insurance buy ads. Ads create jobs and all Americans will have health insurance.

The CEO stops complaining and it's a win-win for everyone.