Privatization Is The Prime Suspect: Open Letter to President Biden and Senators Wyden and Merkley

I am a retired radiation oncologist from Corvallis, Oregon. I met too many patients who delayed care because of cost. They would delay months and then end up in the emergency room with advanced cancers. A 2022 Gallup poll showed that 38% of Americans delayed care because of cost.

Why? Privatization is the prime suspect. Corporate monopolies create inadequacy and inequity in health care. They involve insurance, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, private equity, and management service organizations (MSOs). They successfully lobby to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid programs so hard-won by Congress in 1965. Medicare “Advantage” and ACO-REACH are products of such lobbying. They extract wealth rather than promote health. They make health care unaffordable for one in three Americans.

Since 1990, United Health Group (UHG) has acquired or merged with large medical clinics nationally. Since 2020, UHG’s Optum MSO has absorbed clinics in Eugene and Portland. It now seeks a merger with our Corvallis Clinic. These acquisitions and mergers increase costs. They worsen health care outcomes. They divert local health care money to distant monopoly stockholders. They prevent communities from controlling their health-intended dollars. See Katherine Gudiksen's 2023 testimonies at U.S. and Oregon Senate Hearings, “The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition.”

In 2022 Oregon constitutionally assured health care for all its residents. The monopolies obstruct that guarantee by outsourcing financial control. Now some political candidates vow to further obstruct health care and other crucial elements of our democracy. Defeat them with a strong health care for all campaign that ends privatization.

Mike Huntington, Vice-Chair of Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates