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America’s healthcare system has been hijacked by corporate greed, where profit trumps patient care, and hospitals operate more like hedge funds than healing centers. Nowhere is this more evident than in Florida, where for-profit hospitals prioritize revenue over human lives, shutting down essential services in favor of high-margin procedures while CEOs amass multi-million-dollar salaries.

This blog exposes the corrupt infrastructure of corporate medicine, revealing how insurance middlemen, pharmaceutical giants, and Medical Cartel-driven hospital networks have turned healthcare into a business of suffering. It highlights the damning statistics, preventable deaths, and financial exploitation that have become routine under this predatory model.

But reform is not just necessary, it is possible. Martin Johns MD and the Financial Policy Council (FPC) proposes a bold, market-based alternative: the Patient-Centered Investment Model (PCIM), where physicians and engaged citizens co-own hospitals, ensuring financial sustainability while keeping patient care as the priority. This model is fueled by investment, not bureaucracy, and backed by President Trump’s tariff equity plan, where tariffs from imported medical equipment would be redirected to reward hospitals based on superior patient outcomes.

With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now leading the Department of Health and Human Services, a historic realignment in healthcare is underway. This blog lays out the roadmap for a future where medicine serves patients—not corporate overlords. The time to break the stranglehold of Big Medicine is now.

Read on to discover how America can reclaim its healthcare system and restore trust, transparency, and true medical care.

Blog Content

Introduction: A State Betrayed by Greed

Florida, the sun-soaked paradise where retirees come to enjoy their golden years, where families build their futures, where millions trust in a healthcare system that, in reality, is a profiteering racket. Beneath the palm trees and pastel-colored hospitals lies a grave truth—Florida’s for-profit healthcare industry is actively shortening lives, not saving them. The statistics, the data, the untold stories, each thread weaves a narrative of systematic betrayal, one where human life is merely a commodity in a Medical Cartel ledger.

The air is thick with the stench of betrayal, the kind that turns stomachs and curdles souls. I have seen it, I have lived it, I have fought it—only to be branded, silenced, and cast into professional exile. I am Martin Johns, a doctor who refused to kneel before the golden calf of corporate medicine, who dared to defy the mercenary overlords of American healthcare. And for that, I was erased.

The system does not tolerate conscience. It does not reward integrity. It does not abide by those who whisper, let alone roar, against the machine. I would not be their butcher. I would not mutilate the Hippocratic Oath for their bottom line. I would not partake in the grand ritual sacrifice where human suffering is the offering and Medical Cartels the insatiable deity. I stood, fists clenched, eyes unblinking, against the unholy trinity of profit over patients, efficiency over effectiveness, finances over lives. And they came for me.

The price of moral defiance? Blacklisted. Erased. Stripped of my name, my standing, my very right to exist within the monstrous labyrinth of American healthcare. A silent execution, a professional death sentence, all because I refused to sign my soul over to a cartel that fattens itself on human misery. Do you hear me? They are not merely negligent. They are architects of suffering, engineers of agony, grandmasters of a labyrinth where every corridor leads to a dollar sign and every exit is locked to those who cannot pay.

I will not be silent while this slaughterhouse masquerading as a healthcare system grinds the bones of the sick into dust. I am here. I am speaking. And I will not stop.

The systemic failures I have witnessed firsthand are not just anecdotal—they are documented, analyzed, and confronted in the Financial Policy Council’s (FPC) groundbreaking Healthcare White Paper. This meticulously researched policy blueprint lays bare the entrenched corruption of for-profit healthcare and presents a roadmap for reclaiming American medicine for the people. It is a call to arms for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and every American who refuses to accept a system that prizes executive bonuses over human life.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: A System Rigged for Profit Over People

Consider the cold, brutal facts:

• Florida ranks 36^th  in healthcare performance nationwide.¹
• It spends a meager $261 per capita on public health, just 2.25% of the national average.²
• It has 60% of children without a primary medical home, the highest in the nation.³
• It remains one of only ten states that refused federal Medicaid expansion, effectively dooming hundreds of thousands to medical neglect.⁴

If these figures were from a war zone, the UN would be issuing sanctions. But because they emerge from a system in which insurance executives and hospital CEOs pocket seven-figure salaries while patients drown in medical debt, this is called “business as usual.”

The Financial Policy Council’s White Paper confirms these grim realities with data-backed precision, exposing how corporate medicine has gutted patient care in favor of revenue targets. But a shift is on the horizon. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., confirmed today as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has vowed to tackle many of these failures head-on. His agenda aligns with the FPC’s recommendations, emphasizing patient-centered care, rigorous oversight, and a rejection of the pharmaceutical-industrial complex’s unchecked power. From reining in the FDA’s conflicts of interest to expanding holistic and preventive medicine, Kennedy’s policies echo the FPC’s vision of an American healthcare system rooted in transparency, integrity, and a commitment to ‘do no harm.

The Case Files: Lawsuits and Catastrophic Failures

HCA Healthcare: The Largest Healthcare Fraud in U.S. History⁵

HCA, one of Florida’s dominant hospital operators, has faced numerous legal battles, including the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history—$1.7 billion in penalties and damages for systematically defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. More recently, lawsuits against HCA Florida Citrus Hospital revealed horrifying allegations of sexual abuse and negligence, resulting in a $25 million verdict for one patient who was assaulted while under sedation. Meanwhile, staffing shortages continue to endanger lives at multiple HCA hospitals across the state, leading to preventable deaths from untreated medical emergencies. I know that firsthand these activities and other fraudulent and unethical activities go on every day at every HCA facility.

Tenet Healthcare (THC): Profits Over Patients⁶

Tenet Healthcare, a major operator in Florida, has settled multiple lawsuits related to illegal kickbacks and fraudulent billing practices. Its Florida hospitals have faced malpractice suits over preventable deaths, particularly in emergency room settings where cost-cutting measures resulted in fatal delays in treatment. Several whistleblower cases have exposed systematic Medicaid and Medicare fraud, reinforcing the notion in my opinion that profits dictate patient outcomes in Tenet facilities.

Universal Health Services (UHS): Behavioral Health Scandals⁷

UHS, one of the country’s largest providers of mental health services, has faced allegations of patient abuse, unnecessary hospitalizations, and fraudulent billing. Reports indicate that in some of its Florida facilities it is alleged that they have forcibly held patients against their will to maximize insurance billing periods, turning psychiatric care into a revenue-generation scheme rather than a place of healing.

Ascension: The Non-Profit That Behaves Like a Corporation⁸

While Ascension markets itself as a faith-based non-profit, it has operated no differently from its for-profit counterparts, cutting services and shutting down hospitals in lower-income communities to focus on more lucrative specialty procedures. Patients in rural Florida have been particularly affected, with Ascension hospitals failing to provide adequate emergency care, purportedly leading to avoidable deaths.

Kaiser Permanente: Denial of Care and Legal Battles⁹

Kaiser Permanente has faced numerous lawsuits nationwide for delaying or denying necessary care. In Florida, complaints have emerged about restrictive insurance policies that leave patients unable to access critical treatments. The company’s business model, which merges insurers with hospital providers, creates an inherent conflict of interest that puts shareholders above patient survival.

The Business of Suffering: How Profits Override Patient Welfare

If medicine were truly about healing, hospitals wouldn’t be shutting down emergency rooms in low-income areas while expanding luxury cosmetic surgery wings for the wealthy. If patient care was the priority, then we wouldn’t see CEOs raking in millions while nurses work double shifts in understaffed facilities. 

• HCA Healthcare-CEO: Samuel N. Hazen-Salary: $21,315,984¹⁰
• Tenet Healthcare (THC)-CEO: Saum Sutaria, MD-Salary: $18,518,110¹¹
• Universal Health Services (UHS)-CEO: Marc D. Miller-Salary: $14,329,934¹²
• Kaiser Permanente-CEO: Gregory Adams-Salary: Approximately $17,000,000¹³

The Financial Policy Council’s White Paper provides a bold, market-based alternative that dismantles the profit-first model while ensuring efficiency and accessibility. Among its proposals: transparent hospital pricing, value-based care models, and a restructuring of insurance frameworks to prioritize patient outcomes over shareholder returns. Unlike Washington’s bureaucratic half-measures, the FPC’s strategy is driven by economic pragmatism, ensuring that hospitals and insurers serve the public good rather than Medical Cartel’s bottom line.

The FPC recognizes that true reform cannot come solely from government intervention, it must be fueled by a fundamental realignment of healthcare investment itself. The Patient-Centered Investment Model (PCIM) offers an entirely new paradigm—one where smaller, independent hospitals thrive by fusing market discipline with a physician-driven mission. Instead of choking under bureaucratic mandates or Medical Cartel’s insatiable demands, these institutions would operate on a direct-pay, transparent pricing model, untethered from the insurance middlemen who have warped healthcare into a financial racket. Physicians would not be employees—but stakeholders, bound to their patients by more than duty: by shared ownership, shared responsibility, and shared success.

This model is not just theoretical, it is the future of ethical, sustainable healthcare, and it aligns with the brilliant and patriotic vision of newly appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His agenda, reforming the FDA, prioritizing patient-centric medicine, and dismantling conflicts of interest in federal health agencies—is in perfect harmony with the FPC’s vision for restoring American healthcare to its rightful state: a system where healing is not dictated by corporate quotas, where doctors serve patients—not bureaucrats, and where investment and integrity finally walk hand in hand.

Corporate structures, with their relentless pursuit of profit, pressure physicians to perform unnecessary tests, procedures, and treatments, potentially putting patients at risk. The imperative to meet revenue targets not only compromises the quality of care but also erodes the trust between patients and their healthcare providers” (FPC Healthcare White Paper, Executive Summary).

As a result, hospitals systematically cut staffing levels, delay critical treatments, and prioritize lucrative procedures over essential care. Patients in Florida’s for-profit hospitals are not just victims of medical neglect but also financial exploitation, subjected to unnecessary interventions that drive up costs without improving health outcomes.

The result? Preventable deaths, botched surgeries, neglected seniors, and families bankrupted by medical debt—all while executives sip champagne at shareholder meetings, toasting their latest cost-cutting triumphs.

The For-Profit Death Cult: The Solution is Political, Not Medical

Healthcare in Florida is not failing because of a lack of resources or expertise; it is failing because of policy choices. Florida’s refusal to expand Medicaid, its deregulation of corporate hospitals, and its insistence on treating healthcare as a commodity rather than a human right has created a humanitarian crisis.

This is exactly why the Financial Policy Council’s Healthcare White Paper is a national imperative. It doesn’t merely diagnose the disease—it prescribes a cure. From increasing transparency in for-profit hospital outcomes to ensuring whistleblower protections for medical professionals, the FPC’s solutions are pragmatic, bold, and rooted in the very principles that guided America’s Founding Fathers: limited government overreach, free-market efficiency, and unwavering accountability. Kennedy’s policy priorities—revamping the FDA, refocusing NIH funding on direct patient care, and empowering alternative health approaches—mirror these urgent recommendations. The time to reclaim our healthcare system from corporate stranglehold is now.

The solution is clear:

• Medicaid Expansion – Immediately accept federal funds to provide healthcare to the state’s poorest residents.
• Stricter Oversight on For-Profit Hospitals – Mandate transparency on outcomes and penalize facilities that prioritize profit over safety. This includes establishing a mandatory hospital evaluation system with public reporting requirements, ensuring that patients and policymakers have clear data on hospital performance and patient outcomes. Additionally, executives found guilty of endangering patient safety must face punitive measures including incarceration, and whistleblower protections must be strengthened to expose unethical corporate behavior.
• Investment in Public and Non-Profit Healthcare – Follow the Minnesota model by incentivizing patient-first healthcare, not Medical Cartels -driven medicine.
• Universal Patient Protections – End the practice of medical debt lawsuits and predatory billing.

Conclusion: The Fight for Florida’s Lives

The Financial Policy Council, alongside the newly appointed Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stands at the vanguard of this fight. The FPC’s White Paper is not just a policy document—it is a manifesto for reclaiming America’s healthcare system from corporate looters. Every American must demand that our lawmakers heed its findings and implement its recommendations. Anything less is a betrayal of the fundamental right to quality care. The time for incremental change is over. The time for revolution—a revolution of accountability, integrity, and patient-first policy—is now. The for-profit healthcare model in Florida is a grotesque experiment in unchecked capitalism, where human suffering is merely a cost of doing business. It is a system that must be dismantled, exposed, and restructured before another life is needlessly lost.

We are not mere consumers in a market, we are human beings in a society that should value life over ledger books. The question now is: How much longer will we tolerate this slaughterhouse disguised as a healthcare system?

The fight for reform is not just about policy, it is about morality. The people of Florida must decide whether they wish to remain cogs in the machine of corporate greed or whether they will demand a system that serves the public good.

The choice is yours. The time to act is now.

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Footnotes:

1. Florida ranks 36th in healthcare performance nationwide. Commonwealth Fund. "2023 Scorecard on State Health System Performance." Commonwealth Fund, 2023.

2. It spends a meagre $261 per capita on public health, just 2.25% of the national average. Newsweek. "Here's How Much Every State Spends on Public Health." Newsweek, 2021.

3. It has 60% of children without a primary medical home, the highest in the nation. Florida Department of Health. "Child Health Status Profile." Florida Health CHARTS, 2023.

4. It remains one of only ten states that refused federal Medicaid expansion, effectively dooming hundreds of thousands to medical neglect. Health News Florida. "A push is underway for voters to make Florida the next state to expand Medicaid." Health News Florida, 2024.

5. HCA Healthcare: The Largest Healthcare Fraud in U.S. History

HCA, one of Florida’s dominant hospital operators, has faced numerous legal battles, including the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history—$1.7 billion in penalties and damages for systematically defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2003/June/03_civ_386.htm More recently, lawsuits against HCA Florida Citrus Hospital revealed horrifying allegations of sexual abuse and negligence, resulting in a $25 million verdict for one patient who was assaulted while under sedation. Source: https://publiclawlibrary.org/25-million-verdict-sheds-light-on-sexual-assault-and-negligence-at-florida-hospital/ $25 Million Verdict Sheds Light on Sexual Assault and Negligence at Florida Hospital, November 10, 2024, by publiclawlibrary.org

6. Tenet Healthcare (THC): Profits Over Patients

Tenet Healthcare, a major operator in Florida, has settled multiple lawsuits related to illegal kickbacks and fraudulent billing practices1. Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/hospital-chain-will-pay-over-513-million-defrauding-united-states-and-making-illegal-payments Hospital Chain Will Pay over $513 Million for Defrauding the United States and Making Illegal Payments in Exchange for Patient Referrals, October 3, 2016, by justice.gov

Its Florida hospitals have faced malpractice suits over preventable deaths, particularly in emergency room settings where cost-cutting measures resulted in fatal delays in treatment2. Source: https://time.com/5859704/fraud-settlement-bailout/ This Firm Settled a Federal Fraud Suit—Then Got a $45 Million Bailout, June 27, 2020, by time.com

Several whistleblower cases have exposed systematic Medicaid and Medicare fraud, reinforcing the notion that profits dictate patient outcomes in Tenet facilities. Source: https://www.classaction.org/media/brewster-et-al-v-tenet-healthcare-corporation.pdf Brewster et al. v. Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Case No. CACE-22-008510, 2022 by classaction.org

7. Universal Health Services (UHS): Behavioral Health Scandals

UHS, one of the country’s largest providers of mental health services, has faced allegations of patient abuse, unnecessary hospitalizations, and fraudulent billing4. Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/universal-health-services-inc-and-related-entities-pay-$122-million-settle-false-claims Universal Health Services, Inc. And Related Entities To Pay $122 Million To Settle False Claims Act Allegations, July 10, 2020, by justice.gov.

Reports indicate that some of its Florida facilities have forcibly held patients against their will to maximize insurance billing periods, turning psychiatric care into a revenue-generation scheme rather than a place of healing5. Source: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrelease/millions-secured-florida-following-health-care-investigation Millions Secured for Florida Following Health Care Investigation, July 23, 2020, by myfloridalegal.com

8. Ascension: The Non-Profit That Behaves Like a Corporation

While Ascension markets itself as a faith-based non-profit, it has operated no differently from its for-profit counterparts, cutting services and shutting down hospitals in lower-income communities to focus on more lucrative specialty procedures6. Source: https://about.ascension.org/news/2019/03/bay-medical-sacred-heart-is-now-part-of-ascensions-sacred-heart-health-system Bay Medical Sacred Heart is now part of Ascension’s Sacred Heart Health System, March 20, 2019, by ascension.org

Patients in rural Florida have been particularly affected, with Ascension hospitals failing to provide adequate emergency care, purportedly leading to avoidable deaths. Source: https://about.ascension.org/news/2024/10/ascension-florida-makes-strategic-investments-in-the-state Ascension Florida makes strategic investments in the state, October 2024 by ascension.org

Kaiser Permanente: Denial of Care and Legal Battles

Kaiser Permanente has faced numerous lawsuits nationwide for delaying or denying necessary care8. Source: https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/investigations/kaiser-permanente-data-breach-investigation/ Kaiser Permanente data breach investigation, August 7, 2024, by topclassactions.com

9. In Florida, complaints have emerged about restrictive insurance policies that leave patients unable to access critical treatments. Source: https://www.classaction.org/news/data-breach-lawsuit-says-kaiser-permanente-disclosed-info-of-$13.4-million-patients-to-microsoft-google-twitter Data Breach Lawsuit Says Kaiser Permanente Disclosed Info of 13.4 Million Patients to Microsoft, Google, Twitter, June 28, 2024, by classaction.org

The company’s business model, which merges insurers with hospital providers, creates an inherent conflict of interest that puts shareholders above patient survival. Source: https://www.classaction.org/data-breach-lawsuits/kaiser-foundation-health-plan-april-2024 Kaiser Permanente Data Breach Legal Investigation, April 2024 by classaction.org

10 HCA Healthcare-CEO: Samuel N. Hazen-Salary: $21,315,984 Source: https://www1.salary.com/Samuel-N-Hazen-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-HCA-HEALTHCARE-INC.html "Chief Executive Officer Samuel N. Hazen salary at HCA Healthcare, Inc.," 2023 by salary.com

11. Tenet Healthcare (THC)-CEO: Saum Sutaria, MD-Salary: $18,518,110 Source: https://www1.salary.com/Saum-Sutaria-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-TENET-HEALTHCARE-CORP.html "Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Saum Sutaria salary at Tenet Healthcare Corp," 2023 by salary.com

12. Universal Health Services (UHS)-CEO: Marc D. Miller-Salary: $14,329,934 Source: https://www1.salary.com/Marc-D-Miller-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-UNIVERSAL-HEALTH-SVCS-INC.html "Chief Executive Officer and President Marc D. Miller salary at Universal Health Services Inc," 2023 by salary.com

13. Kaiser Permanente-CEO: Gregory Adams-Salary: Approximately $17,000,000 Source: https://nurse.org/news/hospital-ceo-pay/ "Revealed: The Eye-Popping Compensation of 5 High-Paid Hospital CEOs," October 4, 2024, by nurse.org