How Much Profit Can Be Made Off of My Health?

As we continue our work to expand healthcare access to those in need at Mosaic, as we see more and more people struggling to afford basic healthcare services, and as the healthcare industry continues to make significant profits, I have been pondering this question recently: how much profit can be made off of my health?

Despite the good intentions of so many wonderful healthcare workers, our healthcare system too often seems to treat me like a number, rather than a human.  Fast visits, lots of procedures that often seem unnecessary, unending bills from multiple sources, and more.

I want to spend some time in the months ahead in this space reflecting on this to see if there is data and evidence to back it up. Today, I start with some basics that I am learning about our healthcare system’s economics.

On the one hand, the massive profits being made by the health care industry: over the past twenty years, according to a recent Yale School of Medicine study, U.S. healthcare companies have made in the neighborhood of $2.73 trillion in profit – an average annual profit of $136.5 billion.  One would hope a healthy portion of this profit would be reinvested in the healthcare system to expand capacity and access to care.  Instead, it is quite the opposite: 95% of those profits, around $2.6 trillion, have been given to the shareholders of these companies in the form of shareholder payouts, rather than being reinvested in the healthcare system.  The system seems to be working toward a particular desired outcome: increasing profit margins.  This is a thought worth exploring more in the months ahead.

On the other hand, the massive medical debt that Americans are facing: the graphic below tells the story.  Americans collectively owe at least $220 billion in medical debt.  Fourteen million adults have debt over $1,000.  Medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the United States.  Considering that 55% of Americans cannot afford an unexpected $500 cost, it is clear that, unfortunately, getting sick in the United States is a pathway to financial ruin.  This is also a thought worth exploring further.

Adding all this up, the math seems deceptively simple: less than two years of profits being made by the healthcare industry could pay off all of the medical debt in our nation.  And if more of these profits were dedicated annually to affordability, I wonder if reaching the day when medical debt is not a major problem in this country is possible?

More reflection is needed on all of this, because for those in the private sector, the first retort to my thoughts above would be: how can we take away such profit margins from these private companies?  How would they compete in our economic system?

These are fair questions.  For me, I think what needs to be explored further is why and whether your health and my health is subject to the rules of a system that incentivizes profit.  Such a system certainly works well for buying and selling things like phones and TVs and food, but does it, and should it, apply to our health?

We will continue to explore this question in the months ahead.  If you have a comment, question or thought, please share – send us an email to development@mosaichealthcenter.com.  We would love to hear from you.