In case you have not heard, economy is struggling, families are struggling, young and old people struggle too. Even big insurance companies have suddenly found themselves having to earn more money to keep their corporate shareholders at bay. History shows that when people are struggling, insurance companies and big business look to take advantage to make more money.
Remember when Ebenezer Scrooge died and his house cleaner sold his stuff to cash in? Well, insurance companies and nursing homes are now scheming to do the same to nursing home patients. The new trend is to encourage patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities to sell their policy for a discounted cash amount. The patients get a pittance of a return – which they can spend at the nursing home for “care.” In exchange, the nursing homes and the insurance carriers get the insurance policies from the patients. These policies are then packaged and sold to Wall Street as a future bonds; when the patient dies, Wall Street or the nursing home gets the payout.
Talk about a conflict of interest? The longer the patient lives, the greater the cost to the nursing home and the smaller the profit on the policy the nursing homes have purchased. Conversly, if the patient dies just after the purchase, the nursing home reaps the profits.
Nursing homes should be in the business of caring for our elderly loved ones. They should not be in the business of leveraging a patient’s health and life as a commodity to be traded on the future’s market. That’s just wrong. But, the nursing home business IS big business. Not surprising, with Big Business, many times, “profits over people” is business as usual.
Every day, we read about how the elderly’s care continually gets pushed aside to make room for more profits or easy profits. People and their medical care should come first.
If you feel that your rights are being violated or that a loved one as not received proper care or may be a victim of nursing home abuse, contact a nursing home abuse attorney today. Make sure that your loved ones voices are heard and their rights protected. Make sure that care is put before profits and advocate for these rights.
For additional information on this Wall Street Scheme, you may go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06insurance.html
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