Code red

To the editor:

An old adage goes “where you stand on an issue depends upon where you sit. The city and Municipal Labor Council plan to shift retirees onto Aetna Medicare Advantage proves this point.  For many years, there has been a sharp divide among writers to The Chief regarding health care.  Right-leaning contributors have staunchly opposed government-run “Medicare for all” proposals, calling them socialized medicine, while more liberal voicers support the idea. However, once this issue became personal via Aetna, every retiree (regardless of political bent) now wants their medicine to be socialized.

What retired conservative Chief contributors now realize, is what liberals have long known — health care should not be in the hands of profiteers. Capitalism is great for many market sectors; it can bring better products at lower prices on items like computers and home appliances.  

But, the profit incentive isn’t universally applicable. Delaying or denying treatment for illness, to increase shareholder dividends, is an obvious example. 

Prison is another. In 1983, Tennessee became the first government body to hire a private corporation to operate prisons on a for-profit basis. The result was immediate. According to Wikipedia, “From 1925 to 1980 the prison population stayed consistent with the general population. The private prison population began to increase at an disproportional rate in 1983 (the year that private prisons began operation in the United States). From 1925 to 1980 the prison population had a gradual increase from 150,000 to 250,000. However, from 1983 to 2016 the prison population has increased from 250,000 to 1,500,000.”

No one should profit from the incarceration of human beings or by keeping people sick. Let’s end both practices. They are the very definition of blood money.

Joseph Cannisi