Nursing Is a Hard Gig: Why Profit Is Killing Care and Single-Payer Is Our Best Shot

Nursing is a hard gig. Over my 45-year career, I’ve watched hospitals, dialysis clinics, and nursing homes cut corners—not because it improved care, but because it improved profits.

I’ve felt afraid and hopeless.
Afraid I would make a mistake because I had too many patients.
Hopeless that the system couldn’t be fixed—and worse, that there was little I could do to change it.

Healthcare has become too complex, controlled by too many lobbyists, insurance companies, corporate owners and investors.
Too many patients for nurses and doctors.
Too many people living with chronic illness without access to real prevention or cure.

I could list dozens of failures. Instead, I’ll focus on what matters most to me—as a nurse who worked in the trenches.

Your safety, and our sanity.

Healthcare workers—nurses, doctors, CNAs, respiratory therapists—want to feel good about the care we give you.

We see you.
We see that you need more time, and to be truly listened to.
We see that you need care plans designed for you, not dictated by insurance rules or billing codes.
A plan that heals you.

Not having enough time for you weighs on us. It keeps us up at night and takes a real toll. We didn’t enter healthcare to rush, ration attention, or be placed in conditions that compromise safe care.

And today, your health—our health—is literally for sale.

The prices they charge are negotiated between hospitals and insurance companies—people who don’t know your needs and don’t suffer the consequences when you can’t afford what they’ve approved. You can be sued for the debt. Wages can be garnished. Lives are upended.

As long as profit is the primary driver of healthcare, there will be no guardrails on the prices they charge—or relief for the people trying to take care of you. Patient safety will continue to be at risk.

That’s why the system must be rebuilt—not patched—with cost controls, collaboration, and care centered on people rather than shareholder profits. Single-payer healthcare is our best chance to prevent disease, reduce harm, and allow clinicians to care for the whole person.

Oregonians now have a real chance for better care if the Healthcare for All Oregon plan is approved.

Care that won’t bankrupt us.
Care focused on prevention and root causes.
Care where insurance companies don’t override medical decisions.
Care without armies of billing employees deciding what treatment you “deserve.”

This moment matters.

Leah has been writing about front-line healthcare experiences and policy truths on her Substack, Inject Truth. Read more here: https://injectruth.substack.com/publish/post/187325207