Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health

by Jamie Court, Francis Smith

Court, a nationally recognized consumer advocate and founder of a health care watchdog project, and Smith, an attorney and president of a public policy consulting firm, expose appalling practices of HMOs and the corrupt world of managed care. They tell true stories of patient victims who got caught and killed in the system, and expose the profit motive behind the misery, revealing the collusion of the insurance industry's powerful lobbyists with Congress and state legislatures to block any serious reforms. They supply an HMO patients' self-defense kit to help patients overcome HMO stonewalling. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

230 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

Reviews

[Dave Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm now ~half way through this book.
Review by Katie is helpful -- especially noting this is 1999 published book, and things have gotten a lot worse since then. My review written Jan 2023. My motivation to read came from some bad experiences with Medicare Advantage insurance limiting treatment options that were referred by a primary care doctor and by a surgeon.
Book traces the evolving relationships & control of doctor - patient care starting ~1980's. Medical insurance companies have become for-profit corporations, and changed their business practices to serve investors rather than patients & doctors. At the moment, I am looking at the recent take-over of private medical practices & insurance service (United Healthcare) by a for-profit company (Optum). Doctors & hospitals are pressured and guided to refuse & reduce medical service in order to increase monetary profits. These companies are moving the medical needs of people to lower priorities.
A closely related read is Wendell Potter's book, Deadly Spin, which gives his experiences as a highly placed executive with medical insurance companies. Scary stuff.
There are several critical videos of such practice on YouTube, search for ..
medical insurance united healthcare and optum

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book examining and criticizing the HMO. Written at the end of the 90s so it led me to wonder what has changed since then. Let's hope a lot - pretty scary stuff if it hasn't. Shows the folly of setting up a health care system on a for profit basis.