C. Russel,
Your point is well taken. HMO's aren't really in the medicine business, after all, but the insurance business. The insurance business, of course, is the business of taking in premiums and refusing to pay claims.
Of all the sectors of the capitalist economy, I only believe one is *completely* irredeemable and that is landlording. Insurance may also be completely irredeemable and is surely mostly irredeemable.
peace