The hidden "red envelope" of American medical care: various lobbying groups and interest chains

The hidden "red envelope" of American medical care: various lobbying groups and interest chains Not long ago, the United States...

Not long ago, researchers from the University of California published an article in the American "Nature" magazine saying that sugar is "poisonous" and addictive. Excessive intake of sugar is like chronic suicide. It is recommended to control sugar like tobacco. A report from the Centers for Disease Control states that by 2030, 42% of Americans will be obese. Over the next 20 years, the medical costs caused by obesity alone will reach more than $500 billion. Sugar has played a big role in making Americans fat.

Due to the strong lobbying campaign of sugar farmers, American Crystal Sugar alone spends millions of dollars in lobbying expenses every year, resulting in the U.S. market imposing strict quota controls on imported sugar all year round. As a result, the price of sugar in the United States (5285, -90.00, -1.67%) is much higher than the market price. Those who make children's food in Chicago have gone to Canada or Mexico. The price of sugar has become expensive, and food companies that cannot afford to go to Canada or Mexico have begun to look for cheaper alternatives. They found another powerful lobbying group: large corn farmers in the Midwest. Every five years when Congress discusses the farm subsidy bill, it is also the time when thousands of organizations go out to lobby. Michael Pollan, a professor in Berkeley, California, estimates that corn farms have received $73 billion in government subsidies over the past fifteen years. The result is that there is a lot of corn in the United States, and the cheap corn is made into corn syrup. In order to achieve the same sweetness with as little corn syrup as possible, the corn syrup is processed into layers of concentrated corn syrup (HFCS). Almost all packaged foods in the United States contain HFCS. A spoonful of sweet cereal goes straight to your liver.

You said HFCS has health risks and causes diabetes? There is also a major lobbyist here, the Corn Processing Association, which has spent $30 million on advertising and projects to prove that sugar is sugar and HFCS cannot be discriminated against. This year it spent tens of millions in an attempt to change the name of HFCS on food ingredient lists to simple corn syrup, but unfortunately it was rejected. But who dares to say that HFCS is not food? See you in the lobbying team of Congress! My neighbor and I have eaten so much HFCS. What should we do if the proportion of diabetics increases year by year and medical expenses remain high?

It is no longer news that medical treatment in the United States is expensive and complicated. A minor surgery can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. Behind every hospital bill, there is a competition for the interests of all parties. According to information from congressional offices and the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent lobbying watchdog, the medical industry has spent more than $5 billion on lobbying since 2008, with the top ten lobbying organizations spending more than $100 million each year. The most controversial one is probably the American Medical Association (AMA). Many people accuse the AMA of raising the barriers to entry in the medical industry by strictly controlling medical licenses and ensuring high incomes for doctors (that is, high bills for patients). In the past few years, when major supermarkets successively launched cheap and high-quality in-store clinics, AMA was a strong opponent.

Direct lobbying is only part of the battle. According to National Journal, in just over a year since Obama launched the universal health care plan, the National Health Insurance Plan (a lobbying organization for the U.S. insurance industry) transferred more than $100 million through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to various activities opposing the new bill. Competition for interests is also taking place in various states. Massachusetts is a pioneer in health care reform, so lobbying from all parties is also extremely active.

The clear rules were formulated in the tug-of-war between the various forces. Among these numbers of millions, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, as well as the soaring medical expenses due to competition for interests, what is the difference between these medical red envelopes that we unknowingly receive under Chinese rules and the red envelopes that Chinese people give to doctors?