America is a rich country, but the majority of middle-class Americans are poorer than people in the Southeast Asian backwater I’m from. I emigrated to the U.S. in 2022 but left after a year. Life is plenty hard for citizens there, and despite working in tech, I constantly had this fear of needing healthcare in the back of my mind.<p>I didn’t want to risk bankruptcy because of an insurance denial, so I left quickly. Aside from the dismal state of transportation, unwalkable cities, and a self-sabotaging healthcare system, I actually kind of enjoyed my time there. Now living in Europe, I’m poorer but happier too.
> Doctors for United have reported pressure to reduce time spent with patients, and make patients seem as sick as possible through aggressive medical coding tactics.<p>This is inevitable when government is handing out money. Recipients will <i>always</i> game the bureaucratic rules that specify payouts.
Strange list, some of this is flat out crime, not "profiteering". Fly by night companies submitting 2 billion in false Medicare invoices isn't capitalism. It is simple fraud taking advantage of Medicare incompetence. Same for doctors giving giving people chemo for years despite them never actually having cancer.
> In a highly competitive year, the top spot went to Steward Health Care, whose CEO, Ralph de la Torre, is accused of prioritizing private-equity profits over patient care. His financial scheming led to bankruptcy...<p>This seems inappropriate for an award for "profiteering". I believe that profiteering requires making a profit at some point. What did they want him to do, take the company to bankruptcy faster? And just eyeballing the margins on #2 [0] it looks they don't make that much money either. Those aren't particularly impressive margins. They compare more to Walmart than Google.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UNH/unitedhealth-group/net-profit-margin" rel="nofollow">https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/UNH/unitedhealth-g...</a>