Health care quite profitable

To the editor:

Wall Street is heavily investing in parts of the “health sector.”

My investment recommendation? Sell health insurance.

It’s an easy sell to a huge market. Catastrophic accidents and illnesses can wipe out a lifetime of investment, so everyone wants it. And they’ll pay hefty premiums because they worry about their personal risk.

Even better, at any given time, most of your customers won’t cost you a cent. A few may have minor problems that require modest payouts, but Americans use 10 to 30 percent of the health services people in other developed countries use.

Deductibles and co-pays both reduce this usage, and help offset the cost.

Of course, some unfortunate customers may expect lots of expensive services, but they can be discouraged by requiring prior approvals and defining a very small panel of providers as “in-network.” Catastrophic costs can then be shifted to the customers, some of whom will give up on getting care, or move to public insurance. Or die.

Another recommendation? Sell prescription drugs.

This may be the best way to print money because Americans see your product as life-saving — you can charge a king’s ransom.

Really.

Or you can take the advice of Wall Street analysts and seek long-term treatments, not cures. Our population is aging, and today’s senior citizens believe in drugs. The business future is secure.

The best part of manufacturing these products? Taxpayers pay for research and development, not you. Thank goodness for the National Institutes of Health grants to universities and private research institutions. It wouldn’t do to have this be too obvious, so categorize your efforts at extending patents, changing delivery systems, and other “tweaks” as R&D — even if that’s less than what you spend on marketing.

Market directly to patients — the United States and New Zealand are the only countries that allow this — and providers to increase demand, regardless of efficacy. Win-win.

We, however, are American. We do not ask our citizens to bear the costs of “others.” Our heroes make billions, and keep their billions. That’s true success.

We know that “government” can’t do anything efficiently and cheaply. Too many can’t believe that original public Medicare, with its elimination of for-profit insurance, has led to reduced costs with no loss of efficiency, and with far better health outcomes than any private insurance.

This, we believe, must be an aberration.

Similarly, we believe that government regulation of drug prices is against our principles despite our paying three to 10 times what other countries pay. Unlike those blinded to obvious market factors, we know drug prices must remain sky-high because customers value most what they pay the most for.

Bankrupting ourselves for loved ones proves our love.

Visit almost any medical facility, a complex of physician or other provider offices, to visualize demand.

On any given day, business is so good that it is difficult to find a parking space — even in enormous lots.

Our medical industrial complex is booming, and an excellent investment in the foreseeable future.

Samuel Rosenthal

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