What role should the profit motive be playing in health care in the United States?

Answer 1

Fairly decent.
Do you want your health care providers to treat you the way they treat you at the DMV?

Answer 2

In a perfect world, where everyone's bills get paid and the sun always shines, there would be no motive for healthcare other than providing the best care for the patient.

However, since this is NOT a perfect world and insurance company reimbursments are not what they were even ten years ago, sadly, money is a big motive in health care today.

Answer 3

What kind of question is that? As long as health insurance is a privatized industry, the insurance companies need to make a profit, or no one will buy their stock, and they'll shut their doors.

If the doctors can't make a profit, they'll quit - they have medical bills, employees, and malpractice insurance to pay!

If they don't make enough profit, they can't buy the latest diagnostic equipment, then you won't get the best, latest & greatest medical care.

If you want to see what health care WITHOUT profit is like, go to someplace with socialized medicine - Canada, or the UK - where the WAIT for open heart surgery means a large percentage of the patients die before it's their turn. IN systems like these, people who CAN afford private medicien, use that - it's only the people who can't afford to pay, that use the public system, because like all not for profit, government systems - it stinks.