Universal Health Care: A Case Study

Secondly, along with being available to everyone, universal health care would prevent the insurance companies from denying care. According to CNBC one of the largest insurance company denied care to half a million people in a two year span due to pre existing conditions (CNBC, 2010). In large insurance companies workers are expected to deny a certain amount of people each year and in some cases receive a bonus if they deny the most people. In the documentary SiCKO one worker from the health insurance company of HUMANA told Michael Moore about the expectations of the doctors and when she started she was told she, “had to keep a 10% denial” in the same statement she said explained how she would get a report showing her denial rate compare
to the other peoples, “The doctor with the highest percentage of denials was going to get a bonus” (SiCKO, 2007). In 1996 Linda Peeno conducted a testimony in front of the U.S. Congress explaining how she denied a man a lifesaving treatment to, “save a company a half a million dollars for this and furthermore this act secured my reputation as a good medical director and it assured my continued advancement in the health care field” (SiCKO, 2007). Linda Peeno describes what business is like within the health care field and how the main focus is to save the company money. These acts to save the company money are done by denying care to people and result in a bonus for the health care professional that denied it. This shows us how in a privatised health sector the main focus is on the money, not on the patient's.