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Friday, August 28, 2009

How the Profit-Hungry "Medical Industrial Complex" Hurts Health Care

Huffington Post
First Posted: 08-28-09 11:39 PM | Updated: 08-28-09 11:59 PM

"Bill Moyers Journal" aired a new documentary on its show Friday about how the "medical-industrial complex" affects America's health care. Based on the book "Money-Driven Medicine" by Maggie Mahar, the film looks at why our health care costs are so high and yet the care is so often lacking.

Mahar, who has reported on health care for years, explains the situation as follows:

What I learned, during those years, is that in our health care system, profits often trump patients.
A great many people are selling and selling hard. By law, for-profit corporations are supposed to put their shareholders' interests first: this means that they must strive to maximize profits. And this goes a long way toward explaining why U.S. healthcare is so expensive.

Click this link to watch a clip from the film. Watch the full length VIDEO at Bill Moyers Journal. And here is the rest of it.