Having researched healthcare contractor-fraud suits, I'm not surprised by conclusions made in Michael Moore's "Sicko." There's plenty of material, because in the '90s, a different Justice Department cracked down on contractor fraud, because private companies had wasted or stolen billions of tax dollars (examples are here).
If companies will risk illegal conduct to get more tax dollars, why wouldn't they do likewise for consumer dollars?
Despite voluminous evidence of crimes or inefficiency on many companies' part, some presidential candidates talk about turning to healthcare companies to solve our nation's healthcare crisis (Washington Post). That's like the fly's going to the spider's house for a massage.
Recently, Woman of Mass Discussion described tactics that her insurance company used against her while she underwent chemotherapy (see My Health Insurance Blues). Having worked in the insurance industry, WMD knew how to fight, and she won. Many aren't so fortunate.
On a distantly related note, Paul Krugman pointed out a bizarre piece of spin from Fox So-Called-News about British officials' finding that Muslim doctors working in Britain's healthcare system were involved in the foiled car-bombings:
"'National healthcare: Breeding ground for terror?' read the on-screen headline, as the Fox News host Neil Cavuto and the commentator Jerry Bowyer solemnly discussed how universal health care promotes terrorism." (NYT/Truthout)
I figured someone would try to get political mileage out of the British bombings, but I didn't see this one coming.
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