Making a Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health

Making a Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health, Jamie Court and Francis Smith, Common Courage Press, 1999

HMOs are a much-discussed part of life in present-day America. This book shows how they, the only health care option for millions of people, are more interested in profit than in giving good medical care.

Included are plenty of examples of people with major medical problems who were forced to go to a non-HMO doctor for treatment and pay the entire expense themselves. They're the lucky ones; the unlucky ones died because an HMO bureaucrat decided the treatment wasn't "medically necessary" or would cost too much.

Doctors are paid a fixed budget for every patient under their care, an amount as little as $6.00 per patient per month. Any treatment the doctor orders comes out of that money, giving the doctor plenty of incentive to order the minimum amount of health care. If an HMO gets sued for negligence, even if it is obviously guilty, because of a loophole in federal law, it is almost never financially liable. This book also includes a patient self-defense kit that explains what to do in the world of HMO bureaucracy.

Whether or not you have ever had to deal with an HMO, this book tells things like they really are, and is very highly recommended.