"Without a fair contract, our communities will continue to face a critical shortage of doctors, and patients will ultimately bear the brunt of the system's failure." Dr. Joplin T. Steinweiss, a primary care physician at Jacobi.

Counterpoint- it should be made an example of, and then its abolition should be celebrated and remembered as a warning for aspiring war criminals hoping to one day reimagine new forms of violence.
Tbh I could use a new Judgement at Nuremberg movie/series/week in review newsletter

If we don't confront the underlying political economy of healthcare, any attempt at regulation will invariably fall short of protecting patients.

As the new CMS head plans to fully privatize Medicare, we must instead abolish Medicare Advantage with haste.

ash.harvard.edu/resources/me...

"Technologies are political in both their design and deployment, and to anticipate and understand the political economy of AI, one must first confront the material reality of the industry as it functions today."

6/

To illustrate this extraction:
🚨 Taxpayers paid MA plans 23% more per beneficiary- for the same level of acuity- than FFS Medicare in 2023.

🚨 Since 2007, this has cost taxpayers an extra $612 Billion, siphoned off by private health insurance companies to shareholders instead of to patient care

5/

"The dominant MA payer strategies, augmented by algorithms, overwhelmingly demonstrate their framing of patients and care providers as financial assets whose purpose is to facilitate the ever-increasing extraction of taxpayer dollars."
Hence DOJ Task Force on Health Care Monopolies and Collusion

4/

Growing market power both enabled and benefitted from a range of financial engineering approaches.

The development of algorithms has catalyzed and concealed these practices, increasing profit extraction while leaving patient populations to suffer.

Medicare Advantage is exemplary here.

3/

What frames how algorithms are developed & deployed?

After 20+yrs of payer consolidation across PBMs, post acute care, pharmacies, physician groups, etc, we know mergers =/= market efficiencies.

Instead, we saw decades of regulatory arbitrage ➡️ skyrocketing costs and worse health outcomes.

2/

Also, I will forever praise Chicago. It's the most beautiful city in this country, and it holds a special place in my heart.

I cut my teeth in advocacy through Organized Medicine, having worked at the county, state, and federal level to advocate for structural healthcare reform, as well as shaping the policy of state medical societies to support Residents and Fellows in their collective bargaining agreements.

After a decade w/health-tech startups, non-profits, think tanks, and more, witnessing the extractive abandonment during COVID19 magnified my interest in a justice-oriented framing, seeking new approaches to understanding historical inequities in medical devices and the digital divide.

Labor organizing with CIR/SEIU was one of my most cherished memories during my residency training at Oakland's county hospital. From fighting for hazard pay for all employees, to negotiating a huge contract win after a sweep (98.4% yes) Unfair Labor Practice Strike Authorization Vote.