#prioritize health

[sweetlog]

The Dark Side of Health Insurance: When Profits Trump Lives

Health insurance, at its core, was conceived as a safety net to protect individuals from the financial devastation of medical crises. However, in America, it has evolved into a sprawling industry where profits often take precedence over human lives. The cold efficiency of bureaucracy has turned a system meant to save lives into one that, at times, facilitates their loss—hidden behind the facelessness of paperwork, delays, and denials.

A System Designed to Exploit

For many, the experience of dealing with health insurance is a labyrinth of frustration. Claims are denied on technicalities, treatments are delayed, and coverage is insufficient for the care required. Each of these instances can have fatal consequences. Yet, these outcomes are rarely framed as what they truly are: preventable deaths. When a patient is denied life-saving medication or a critical surgery due to insurance red tape, it’s not seen as manslaughter. Instead, it’s chalked up to a “policy decision.”

This impersonal mechanism allows insurance companies to shirk moral responsibility. Decisions that cost lives are buried in a sea of paperwork and jargon, where accountability is nearly impossible to assign. The end result is a system where denying care is just another way to boost the bottom line.

A Business Built on Suffering

The American health insurance system is a prime example of capitalism’s darker side. Unlike most developed nations, where universal healthcare ensures access for all, the United States relies on a privatized system dominated by profit-driven companies. These insurers work hand in hand with hospitals to maximize revenue, often at the expense of patients.

Hospitals inflate prices, knowing insurance companies will negotiate lower rates—but those inflated prices remain for the uninsured or underinsured, plunging millions into debt. Meanwhile, insurers pocket billions in profits, while patients struggle to afford premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. According to a 2023 report, the combined profits of the top five U.S. health insurance companies exceeded $60 billion in a single year. These staggering figures reveal the true priority of the industry: shareholders, not patients.

When Did It All Begin?

The roots of this dysfunction trace back to the mid-20th century. In the 1940s and 1950s, employer-sponsored health insurance emerged as a workaround for wage freezes during World War II. This shift tied healthcare access to employment, creating a system where coverage was a privilege, not a right.

By the 1980s, deregulation and the rise of managed care plans solidified the insurance industry’s dominance. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) promised cost control but instead introduced a profit-first model. Denying claims, restricting provider networks, and prioritizing cost over care became standard practices. Simultaneously, the government turned a blind eye, swayed by lobbying efforts and campaign contributions from powerful insurance companies.

The Government’s Complicity

Rather than acting as a check on this exploitative system, the U.S. government has often facilitated it. Politicians receive millions in campaign donations from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, ensuring that meaningful reforms are watered down or blocked entirely. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), while a step forward in some respects, ultimately preserved the privatized system, allowing insurers to continue reaping enormous profits.

Moreover, the revolving door between government agencies and the private sector ensures that the industry’s interests are well-represented in policy-making. Former insurance executives frequently take up influential roles in regulatory bodies, crafting rules that favor their former employers.

The Human Cost

The consequences of this profit-driven system are dire. In the United States, medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy. Millions forgo necessary treatments, ration medications, or avoid seeking care altogether due to cost concerns. And for those who do navigate the system, delays and denials can be a death sentence. A 2019 study found that lack of insurance or underinsurance contributes to an estimated 45,000 preventable deaths annually in the U.S.

The Way Forward

Real change will require dismantling the for-profit model that underpins American healthcare. Universal healthcare systems, as seen in countries like Canada and the UK, prioritize patient care over profit. Transitioning to such a system would ensure that no one dies because their treatment wasn’t “cost-effective” for an insurance company.

However, achieving this will require overcoming entrenched industry power and political inertia. It demands a shift in public perception, where denying necessary care is recognized for what it truly is: a moral failing and, in many cases, a form of systemic violence.

[beingjellybeans]

Sun Life in the midst of sun, sea and fun in Boracay

Summer is in full force, and Sun Life Philippines is one with Filipinos in welcoming the season with bright and fun activities in Boracay. Tourists who headed to the island paradise for the recent five-day break were greeted by colorful paraws that were specially designed for Sun Life. As a bonus, Giftaway e-gift certificates are also up for grabs for those who will join Sun Life’s Spot the…

[enii]

Slowly learning to become the happiest version of myself💕

[ae-cha08]

[inmyperfectworld]

Protect your peace. 🤍🌱

[manchesterau]

[ashpaw-is-alone]

Does the whole clan have a height chart?

i do have all of duskclan’s references ready to go, but you’re not getting that yet! so here’s the guys we already know.

[mongeese]

I understand why people do it but using "Kim and Harry would take a bullet for each other" as an expression of their personal closeness is meaningless when canonically, Kim would have thrown himself in front of a bullet to save Harry before they even knew each other. It doesn't matter if Kim likes Harry or not -- they're both officers of the RCM, currently acting as partners, and therefore Kim sees it as his job to protect Harry's life without regard to personal safety. I'd bet Kim expects the same of Harry, at least subconsciously. It isn't about love. It's about duty

[studentbyday]

2025.

Please be good.

[tizzymcwizzy]

these are my final illustrations for a writing/research class and my topic was on hustle culture and the romanticization of overworking,,

it's okay to be kind to yourself!! your value doesn't come from how productive you are, i promise, you get to determine your own worth, and sometimes it's just not worth hurting yourself to achieve your goals

[tee-dohrnii]

Aw, I hope your arm feels better and you get all the rest & recovery you need! (Irl care & situations always come first, even when we want nothing more than create our favorite blorbos)

Having said thattttt, I have two Gale ideas that you can feel free to use or not use as you see fit (I just hope they make you happy if nothing else!):

—washing Gale’s hair and/or bathing with Gale (he is so PRETTY and CUTE when you draw him, and I want nothing more than to give him SHAMPOO and braid his HAIR)

—Dark Gale tempting you and/or trying to make a deal with you (I saw your dark doodle again the other day and I’m obsessed again)

Hope you’re getting lots of rest! 💜

I really wanted to draw the dark Gale one okay I'll go back to resting ( ; v ;)

[pali-and-proud]

ignore this but i need to stare at these thoughts until they make sense

Requiem is the story of Buddy displaying his trust for Chase and Requiem is the story of Chase saving Buddy. Still Waters is the story of Buddy wanting Chase's trust and Still Waters is the story of Chase trying to apologize to Buddy.

It's cyclical, almost, in that Buddy displaying trust led him to be more frustrated that Chase won't trust him (for completely valid reasons) and in that Chase keeps trying to save people and keeps slipping up (saving his mom, protecting Buddy, saving Prunella, saving Deacon, even down to him trying to save the woodland animals)

And Buddy sees Chase's constant desire to save and do right and be right and he trusts that, and Chase encourages the trust and wants it to flourish because he wants to help Buddy and he wants Buddy to let him help, but Chase can't reciprocate the trust because he also wants to save and protect Silver, Bronze, Goldie, and he wants to save and protect Deacon and Prunella, and he needs to save and protect his mom, and he wants to help Buddy.

Chase's so desperate to save and protect that he keeps neglecting the little details, which consistently causes significant problems, and then he finds himself desperate to fix it. To apologize. And in the cross-hatch, Buddy realizes the one-sided trust-fall, because Chase prioritizes keeping others--including Buddy--safe over risking a betrayal, which frustrates Buddy because the blossoms of friendship aren't being built on even ground.

and it's a pattern that's only broken with Chase admitting, finally, that he does trust Buddy, that the friendship and trust and grossly emotional feels go both ways. and it's a pattern only broken by Buddy desperately trying to save and protect Chase, by shielding from water and helping run and realizing the situation and clutching his hand, arm, shirt, whatever

it's incredible writing and i dont know if any of this makes sense to the general public but Punko, if you ever see this, ur incredible and i applaud every single literary decision you've elected bc this is one of my favorite stories to ever exist

[girl-that-writes]

Missing that one person that you feel like you shouldn't miss is okay too. Even if it has been way too long since the end. Doesn't mean you haven't moved on. Its just human nature to miss what was. Don't be too hard on yourself for merely being human.

More importantly, there were so many times that you could have reached out to them in a moment of weakness. But each time you didn't, each time you stopped, you resisted the strong pull of nostalgia and prioritized yourself above all else, and I am so proud of you for doing that.

[enii]

Today, I did everything for myself💕

[ae-cha08]

[angryrantsofdomesticity]

I love how everyone feels so betrayed by Aizawa's haircut. Like, way to stab us right in the heart Horikoshi...