Encouraging Insurance Companies to Put Patients Over Profits
In the United States, we have many in the healthcare industry who put profits over patients. Time and time again I hear that healthcare costs are rising, hospitals are closing, and Americans are without quality, affordable care. How is it that healthcare systems and hospitals are closing, while costs are rising for patients, where are the resources going? The simple answer is it is going to the bottom line to increase profit margins in the healthcare system, including insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and healthcare staffing agencies.
In a recent survey by Pew Research Center, 47 percent of Black Americans say health outcomes for Black Americans have gotten worse in the last 20 years; with the top reason being they have less access to quality medical care.
From 2011 to 2022, 73 hospitals closed, mostly in vulnerable communities where hospitals are the main providers of healthcare services. In fact, 1 in 5 Americans depend on local hospitals for their care. If hospitals continue to close at this rate, millions of American patients will not be able to access the care they need when they need it.
Hospitals have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased demand with decreased staffing levels and inadequate resources has created a trifecta of chaos and devastation. And it has pushed hospitals to rely on industry players with selfish intentions. The nursing shortage was a problem prior to the pandemic but it was absolutely exacerbated over the last 2 years. Desperate hospitals depended on travel nurses and other temporary staff to run day-to-day operations; unfortunately, the staffing agencies who provided the hospitals with their support staff took advantage of the situation to make a quick buck.
Hospitals were charged an exorbitant rate for their services; however, I would like to ask what percentage of the costs were dedicated to community programs. One agency, Cross Country Healthcare, made $132 million in profit in 2021 alone. For rural locations serving low-income populations, this staffing crisis has caused many hospitals to go bankrupt and close their doors to their most vulnerable communities. And has led to an investigation into 35 different agencies for “predatory practices.”
$132 million might seem like a lot, but when compared to the other players in this industry it’s less than the top five insurance companies in the U.S. profited in just 6 hours during the first quarter of 2022. The companies, including Aetna/CVS, Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare, made $262.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
And insurance companies tend to blame doctors and hospitals for the increases in healthcare costs. In my neighboring state of Indiana, this has become a battleground where insurance companies and their advocates are attacking hospitals over and over for prices rising; meanwhile, insurers in Indiana are profiting $300 per patient per year. The national average is $170 per patient per year, so their insurance rates are nearly doubled the national average but they’re blaming providers for increased costs; how does that make sense?
Insurance companies make hundreds of billions of dollars and then too often point the finger at those working day in and day out to save lives. We need to protect the access to healthcare across the country especially in our minority, urban and rural communities where access is most at risk; and if insurers continue to put profits over patients, then America’s most precious resource our people will no longer be a resource, but rather an unhealthy drain on this nation.
Jessica Ann Tyson is President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation Michigan Chapter. Tyson has been listed as one of the Most Influential Women by Grand Rapids Business Journal. She was appointed to Building the 21st Century Economy Commission and Michigan Board of Nursing Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs Bureau of Health Care Services by former Governor Rick Snyder in 2014.
