In an exclusive interview with Dome Politics, Representative Rich McCormick (R-GA) thoroughly explained his concerns with healthcare in America and the intricate relationship between Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and the American people, calling the health insurance industry "the biggest mafia in America."
"It is the biggest mafia in America! You know why they don’t advertise? They don’t have to. It’s a monopolistic system. In Wyoming, you have one health insurance company. In Georgia, I think you have two," McCormick explained. "How’s that possible? No competition, and because of that, they make record profits. There is no accountability."
The Representative first explained the pressures that doctors face every day and their decisions about whether to admit or discharge certain patients. This decision, he says, is tied to the likelihood that insurance agencies will cover certain costs.
According to McCormick, billing from hospitals and care centers is denied by insurance companies up to 40% of the time. Doctors and care workers spend all their time going through procedures and prioritizing patients just to be denied billing for arbitrary reasons.
“They just do it because they know they can, and they don’t get penalized. They don’t get penalized, and it encourages surprise billing from the ER and the hospital, and the insurance companies won’t cover that. Instead of going to court, the hospital bills the patients,” McCormick explained.
He then argued that this is completely against the law, and the patients always end up paying for it. He stated, "That’s against the law, but [the hospitals] still do it because they are not getting reimbursed by the insurance companies. What do they do next time? They raise the price for people covered by premiums to cover the cost of all the denials."
McCormick then moved to criticize the Affordable Care Act (ACA), warning that it has played a role in driving up costs for consumers. In some cases, premiums have gone up by 2000% and only "Big Insurance" benefits.
McCormick pointed out that, “[Insurance companies] are making 230% more in net profit than they did before the Affordable Care Act. They are vertically integrated with [pharmacy benefit managers], making tens of billions of dollars. One company is going to make $20 billion this year. They have two of the top ten Fortune 500 companies in America.”
He concluded by sharing that this issue is unresolved, pinning the blame entirely on the Democratic Party. If healthcare were to ever be solved, he argues, Democrats would have a much weaker platform to run on and they simply can’t allow that to happen.
To make this case, McCormick called out Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, stating, "When Texas took former HHS Secretary Becerra to the Supreme Court over the reimbursement issue, Becerra represented Big Insurance. The Democrats represent Big Insurance. Warnock was the biggest recipient in his last election of big health donations."
The Representative elaborated on this final point, explaining how Democrats and Big Health maintain a mutually beneficial relationship and will never allow Republicans to properly address healthcare.
“The Democrats and Big Health are in bed with each other. They want the issue, not the solution,” McCormick stated. “They will never allow us to reach 60 votes and solve anything. They want the problem so they can run on it and pin the blame on Republicans.”
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
