This is a very interesting and hard to fathom question. It is a very real and broad ranging question when looking at the Healthcare world.
Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility
This is an entity that I have never heard of until today. According to their website, this organization has been around since 1971. It is a group of interfaith leaders and investors that utilize their investments in large corporations to pressure change. This change can be based on human rights, societal injustices, or environmental change.
The Question for United Heathgroup
So it seems as a group of investors in the conglomerate of United Healthgroup, they are requesting reports of the macroeconomic fallout in other aspects of the buisness world related to delays in care or denied care.
As per a report from the Guardian, the ICCR has asked for this report to assess how much the amount of denials of care reverberate into other businesses that the organization is invested in.
Is there a correlation and a cost?
This brings up some very interesting questions. By denying care or delaying care, there are some shorter term savings by not paying out for medical services. The less our health insurance is utilized, the more profit our premiums become. In the short term it can be very beneficial to receive the premium payments, not pay out claims and further invest the money.
So their inquiry raises some very serious questions. For working age individuals, how does the domino effect happen financially. Someone gets injured or develops the beginning of a chronic disease. Does the short term savings of not paying for immediate care justify enough savings to couteract the possibility of a loss of production from difficulty performing a job or lead to a complete loss of employment.
Early intervention in most cases frequently results in more positive outcomes. By allowing for early care, there would be significantly increased economic output from that worker as he or she returns to work and stays productive for years.
Geriatric interventions
When looking at the Geriatric population, is it more cost effective to allow for proper recovery from an incident or illness versus too soon transition to home and an increased possibility of re-hospitalization or even worse a fall and hip fracture.
Will the report be done?
According to “The Guardian”, the request is nonbinding., and United Healthgroup has already filed with the securities and exchange commission to exclude the report. So there is the likelihood that the requested information will never truely see the day of light.
So what does this mean?
This further supports the need for all of us who utilize and work in healthcare (so really all of us) need to stand up for our rights as consumers and providers. We need to continue to advocate and keep fighting for everyone to get what is fair and reasonable. We all deserve better.
