Death of American Healthcare: Testimony by Linda Peeno

.............In the early 1990’s, few people understood how deadly the “system” of managed care had become. Corporations created “black boxes” of hidden tactics, schemes, and processes designed to put profits over patients into which few could see. As an “insider,” I tried to use my knowledge to help others with power to make change. Initially it was difficult, for few people listened or cared. Slowly, though, the stories of harm and death to patients began to break through and the public, professionals, advocacy groups, media and policy-makers began to take note. The first major Congressional hearing on “managed care” was held in May of 1996, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to share my experiences.

The year 1996 marked a threshold – a time when a few patient stories ceased to be only anecdotes and became evidence of a well-designed, evolving system of potential harm and death. Now 2007 marks another threshold – a time when the breakdown of medicine and health care is evidence of a more fundamental breakdown in our societal and cultural values. Little happened in 1996, and things became unimaginably worse and many more people suffered. If little happens now, we are going to find that life from this point on will be shockingly unbearable for more and more people in more and more ways. Who of us will give a life this time for inaction?