Health Care Crisis: Debating the Profit Motive

Steve Scher
08/13/2007 at 9:00 a.m.

Swedish Medical Center just announced it will no longer accept United HealthCare plans because the reimbursement the company pays for treating patients is just too low. Fourteen thousand households in the region could be affected. The Washington State insurance commissioner joins us to provide some perspective.

Then, we turn to the big picture. One of our guests says the for-profit health care system is to blame for patients' woes. Another blames the government. What health care reforms are needed? Are you an insurance company employee, medical professional, or patient? Call in with your stories and solutions.

Guests:
Mike Kreidler is Washington State's Insurance Commissioner.
Dr. David Kerns is Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University's School of Medicine and the author of Standard of Care.
Sally Pipes is president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank. She's also a health policy advisor to Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and the author of Miracle Cure: How to Solve America's Health-Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn't the Answer.