Healthcare Should Put Patients First Not Shareholders
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Do you know what has happened in our world? Everything has become about making profit. Look at the example of healthcare insurance. It would be logical to think that the care of the patient would be first and foremost in this sector. You would be wrong, since privatisation has come in via neoliberalism, shareholders have become the primary concern of those in the business of providing healthcare insurance. We are now putting the cart before the horse. CEOs and boards place profitability and returns for investors above all else. Patients do not get the timely care they need because it is all about spending less. These companies like United Healthcare are making $450 billion revenues annually. Neoliberalism puts consumers and workers at the bottom of their priority list and shareholders at the top – this is wrong. Healthcare should put patients first not shareholders.
Neoliberalism Has Shafted Healthcare Putting Profits Above Patients
What is Neoliberalism? It is an economic theory/policy which believes that private enterprise unencumbered by government regulation does things best. That privatising government agencies and public utilities will see them run more profitably and efficiently. This has occurred widely in the energy sector, transport, banking, telecommunications, and a host of other industries. Private equity has joined this party and we have seen many businesses become shrouded in opaqueness and shareholder greed. Hospitals have been bought up in this manner and the outcomes for patients and staff have been bad.
“Private equity (PE) acquisitions in healthcare have exploded in the past decade. The number of private equity buyouts of physician practices increased six-fold from 2012-2021. At least 386 hospitals are now owned by private equity firms, comprising 30% of for-profit hospitals in the U.S.
…there were concerning results for patient safety. The rate of adverse events at PE-acquired hospitals compared to control hospitals increased by 25%, including a 27% increase in falls, 38% increase in central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), and double the rate of surgical site infections. The authors found the rates of CLABSI and surgical site infections at PE-acquired hospitals alarming because overall surgical volume and central line placements actually decreased. “
Australia follows America, especially in the commercial sectors, as business folk ogle the profits made in the US. The LNP Coalition in Australia is continually attempting to move the country further toward the American way of doing things. Former PM Tony Abbott tried to privatise our universities to recreate the sector in the American college image, where degrees at Ivy League colleges cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Places like Harvard University in the US are worth around $40 billion.
“Among the Ivy League universities, Harvard’s aid package was the third-largest: Columbia University and Cornell University will receive the most financial help at $12.8 million apiece. The eight Ivy League universities — with a combined endowment of more than $140 billion — are set to receive nearly $60 million in taxpayer aid. The universities receiving the most money through the CARES Act are public universities, with Arizona State University set to receive the biggest grant at $63 million.”
The Priority Must Be Patient Care & Not Investors
The financialization of everything has seen higher education, healthcare, and a slew of other sectors fall prey to the money men and their schemes for turning them into financial products rather than what they are intended to be. America, and Australia is following suit, puts profitability above all other considerations to the detriment of these institutions and services. There was a reason why these sectors were formerly largely public assets and institutions. Primarily, that reason is that these things are not best served by bean counters and greedy investors running the show. Healthcare should put patients first not shareholders. Educators should put their students first not investors. These privatisations may begin with greater efficiencies and the best of intentions – but I doubt that too. The end game is CFOs eking out ever greater levels of profitability for shareholder dividends and their own bonuses and salaries.
LNP Coalition Americanisation Policy For Australia
Former PM John Howard, Abbott and Co have tried to get rid of Medicare in Australia, ever since it was introduced by former PM, the late Gough Whitlam in the late 1970s. Universal free healthcare is very popular with Australians – it is only a shame about the lack of dental care in that package. Adding free dental care for all Australians has been costed at about $11.6 billion a year. Australia is wasting far more on the shadowy idea of maybe getting nuclear submarines from the US sometime in the future but with no guarantees.
I know I would rather have functioning teeth and less oral pain than waste $366 billion going to inefficient and corrupt defence contractors and corporations. Not to mention the admirals, consultants and public servants with their hands out for greasing.
Dutton’s Nuclear Power Scam
The neoliberal way is to enrich a few at the expense of the many. They used to call it the trickle down effect but then economic studies proved that nothing did actually trickle down except bitterness. Peter Dutton, the Opposition leader wants to establish a nuclear power industry in Australia. Despite our country having all the natural advantages to become a renewable energy super power. This is because the neocons are firmly in the fossil fuel camp and see the nuclear scam as a great way of keeping the coal and gas generators going for another 30 years. It will take that long to build viable nuclear reactors to generate power at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. Plus, nuclear power will be another motza for their business mates to get in on the ground floor. Making billionaires is the neoliberal way, where a few get exceedingly rich at the expense of the rest of us.
Stupid people vote for these guys because they aspire to getting some filthy lucre coming their way. You know, crumbs from the big table.
Healthcare should put patients first not shareholders. It is not in the best interest of Australians to go down the Americanisation path. Prior to the introduction of Medicare Australians used to go bankrupt unable to pay their medical bills just like in the US now. It is the most common cause for bankruptcy in America today. We need to reverse the neoliberal trend and return assets to the public not privatise any more. The housing crisis has been caused by a lack of government spending on social housing over decades. The market does not take care of business when it comes to housing those in need. Private developers only want to build expensive residences so that they can make more money for their investors. This is the way the market works. It is BS that market forces will take care of everything. The proof is before our eyes right now.
The only thing keeping Australia out of an economic recession is immigration and government spending. Think about it. Market forces are hogwash disguised greed. Australia is a mixed economy for a good reason, but the mix has been skewed too far to the right because of neoliberalism. It is time to correct that urgently.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Bite & Smile – his brand new book which has just been published. https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0DPM9WS6K
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