GANA

There’s a brutal truth few want to face: our society and the industries that dominate it profit from death and the fear of death. From hospitals to pharmaceutical companies, from insurance giants to religious institutions, what I call the “Death Dealers” have built multi-billion-dollar empires by capitalizing on our most primal fear: mortality. Yet when it comes to caring for the vulnerable, especially those with complicated health histories, these systems systematically turn their backs.

This isn’t just about economics or health policy; it is about a fundamental clash between capitalism and compassion. This tension defines how we treat life, dignity, and human worth.

The Death Dealers: Who They Are and Why They Matter

When you think of industries tied to death, you might picture hospitals or funeral homes. But the reality is far broader and more insidious. The “Death Dealers” include:

• Hospitals: Centers of healing, yes, but also for-profit machines generating massive revenue from expensive, often prolonged treatments that can extend suffering more than life.
• Pharmaceutical Companies: Promoting medications that often treat symptoms rather than causes, trapping millions in lifelong dependencies.
• Health Insurance Companies: Frequently denying or limiting coverage for people with chronic illnesses or pre-existing conditions, prioritizing financial risk over patient needs.
• Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance Providers: Distinct from general health insurance, LTC insurers cherry-pick customers, deny coverage to the most vulnerable, and profit whether clients pay premiums or claim benefits.
• Long-Term Care Facilities: Nursing homes and assisted living centers often prioritize profit margins over the quality of life for their residents.
• Funeral and Death Care Industry: Funeral homes, crematoriums, and related services derive direct profits from death rituals and societal norms surrounding mortality.
• Medical Device and Technology Companies: Producers of life-extending equipment such as ventilators, dialysis machines, and implantables that prolong life and suffering while generating massive revenue.
• Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and Pharmacy Chains: Intermediaries influencing medication access and pricing, impacting chronic disease management and end-of-life care.
• Private Equity Firms and Investment Groups: Investors are increasingly owning hospitals, LTC facilities, and other health services, often prioritizing financial returns over patient outcomes.
• Religious Institutions: Organizations leveraging fear of death and the afterlife to command influence, loyalty, and donations.

This ecosystem commodifies mortality, turning our deepest fears into profit centers. Recognizing the breadth and complexity of these industries is crucial to understanding how fear and suffering are exploited and where reform is desperately needed.

Capitalism’s Profit Motive vs. Compassion’s Human Imperative

Capitalism prioritizes efficiency, risk management, and profitability above all else. Insurance companies routinely deny coverage to individuals labeled “high risk,” whether recovering from addiction, having a family history of serious illness, or living with pre-existing conditions, because the numbers designate them as financial liabilities. This approach is not about fairness; it is about minimizing cost and exposure.

In stark contrast, compassion holds that everyone deserves care, dignity, and support regardless of their past, health status, or social circumstances. Compassion values inclusion, equity, and human worth over bottom-line calculations.

Yet capitalism’s rules govern our healthcare systems. The result is a cruel paradox: those who need care most are often left without it, while corporations profit from fear and vulnerability.

The Case of Long-Term Care: Denied to Those Who Need It Most

Long-term care insurance is designed to help cover the costs of assisted living, nursing homes, or home care as people age or face chronic illness. Yet many individuals, especially those with complex or managed health conditions, are routinely denied coverage.

For example, an otherwise healthy middle-aged person might be refused simply because they have a controlled chronic illness like Type 2 diabetes or well-managed hypertension. Others face exclusion due to past mental health diagnoses, such as depression or anxiety, even when stable for years. A history of smoking or obesity can also lead insurers to label applicants as “too risky.” These decisions often undermine responsible health management, leaving many without essential protection and vulnerable to overwhelming financial and personal hardship.

Does anyone deserve care? Absolutely. Should a history of health challenges disqualify someone from protection? No. Yet capitalism’s risk management framework routinely excludes those who might incur higher costs, prioritizing profit over people.

The Financial Trap: Even the Well-Prepared Can Be Devastated by Long-Term Care Costs

Long-term care is not just a challenge for the poor or uninsured. Even individuals who have carefully planned and saved for retirement can be blindsided by the staggering costs of nursing homes or assisted living, which often range from $8,000 to $10,000 or more per month.

Many well-to-do seniors face a cruel dilemma. Their retirement savings are not enough to cover these ongoing expenses indefinitely. Medicaid could provide support, but only after they have depleted nearly all their assets, forcing them to spend down their life savings and live in near poverty.

This means that decades of careful financial planning and hard work can evaporate quickly, leaving people with little choice but to sacrifice their financial independence and security just to receive basic care. The system, designed to help, ends up stripping dignity and destabilizing lives.

This harsh reality exposes a fundamental failure of our care and social safety nets—one that capitalism’s focus on profit and risk management does nothing to fix.

Corporate America’s Hollow “Social Responsibility”

This dynamic plays out everywhere. Corporate America often promotes its “social responsibility” programs as badges of honor, featuring charity donations, green initiatives, and employee wellness programs. But underneath, the same profit-first mentality drives decision-making.

Companies wear social responsibility like a mask while continuing to prioritize shareholder profits over human life and dignity. The death dealers thrive in this environment.

When Governments Dismantle Compassion

This contradiction is not limited to corporations. It extends into government policy. Take, for example, the recent dismantling of USAID by the current administration, which is celebrated as an accomplishment.

USAID has been a crucial agency for humanitarian aid, global health, and development assistance. Cutting it back sends a clear message: compassion and global responsibility are expendable when budget cuts and political ideology take precedence.

This mindset fuels austerity in social services at home, prioritizing cost-cutting over care, efficiency over equity, and political gain over human need.

The Path Forward: Bridging Capitalism and Compassion

There is no simple fix. The tension between profit and care runs deep in our economic and political systems. But change is imperative.

• We need policy reforms that mandate equitable access to care, especially for vulnerable populations. That means regulating insurance underwriting standards and expanding public options for long-term care.
• We must reimagine health care and social services to prioritize patient dignity, quality of life, and inclusion over profitability.
• Corporate “social responsibility” needs to be more than public relations; it must involve real accountability and structural change.
• Society must shift its relationship with death and care from fear and avoidance toward acceptance and collective responsibility.

Conclusion

Death dealers profit from our fear of mortality. But that fear should never be weaponized against the very people who deserve care the most. The clash between capitalism and compassion is a fight for human dignity itself.

We must demand a system that values people over profit, care over cost, and compassion over calculation. Ultimately, how we treat our most vulnerable individuals reveals who we are as a society.