Coronavirus Laid Bare Flaws in the American Healthcare System

Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Kimberly Wyss, from Ventura, California, dons surgical gloves aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy. Mercy deployed in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts and will serve as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden)

The coronavirus crisis, which has killed more than 16,000 Americans, has laid bare the flaws of America’s for-profit healthcare system. I’ve been criticizing the health care system for years and knew when the virus hit American shores, it was going to be a disaster. In March, Italy struggled to cope with the strains the disease put on its hospitals and they have a system where everyone is covered. I knew it would be much worse over here. Unfortunately, I was right.

Here are some of the problems the pandemic has exposed:

• The American healthcare system is designed to make money, not provide a service. This simply doesn’t work when faced with a contagious pandemic. American hospitals always have to worry about the balance sheet. So even in the middle of a national healthcare emergency, healthcare executives are still worried about making a profit. This is why were faced with the bizarre situation of hospitals laying off workers in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic! A Vox article stated, “Altarum, a nonprofit research and consulting firm, reported last…