3,199
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      The World Review of Political Economy is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journalsFurthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

       

       

      scite_
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Commodification of Healthcare and its Consequences

      research-article
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            This article examines the political economy of healthcare financing and provision from a Marxist perspective. The article argues that the nature of a country's health financing system results in part as a result of the balance of class forces within a society. The commodification of healthcare is seen as not only creating barriers to access that are deleterious to society's most vulnerable members, but also distorting the dynamics of healthcare provision itself. The article closes with a typology of healthcare financing and provision and a brief analysis of essential elements of a rights-based approach to healthcare financing and delivery.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            10.13169
            worlrevipoliecon
            World Review of Political Economy
            Pluto Journals
            2042891X
            20428928
            Spring 2017
            : 8
            : 1
            : 82-103
            Article
            worlrevipoliecon.8.1.0082
            10.13169/worlrevipoliecon.8.1.0082
            e7f56be8-98ad-4d21-8cc4-ffeb49f71ea6
            © 2017 World Association for Political Economy

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Categories
            Articles

            Political economics
            capitalism and healthcare,political economy of healthcare,privatization,health financing

            References

            1. AVN (Agencia Venezolana de Noticias). 2013. “Cuba Destinará 54% del presupuesto de 2014 a servicios sociales [54% of Cuba's budget went to social services in 2014].” Agencia Venozolana de Noticias , December 21. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/cuba-destinará-54-del-presupuesto-2014-servicios-sociales.

            2. 2015. “The Doctor Will See You Now. First, Your Copay. The Erosion of Health Security under the Affordable Care Act.” MRZine , April 29. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2015/andrews290415.html.

            3. 2009. “Marketing Global Healthcare: The Practices of Big Pharma.” in The Socialist Register 2010: Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism , edited by and , 84–102. London: Merlin Press and Monthly Review.

            4. Association of Credit and Collection Professionals. 2016. “Healthcare Collection Statistics.” Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.acainternational.org/advocacy/industry-research-statistics.

            5. 2009. “Building a Comprehensive Public Health Movement: Learning for the HIV/AIDS Mobilization.” in Socialist Register, 2010. Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism , edited by and , 295–314. London: Merlin Press and Monthly Review Press.

            6. , , , and . 2000. “How Do Types of Employment Relate to Health Indicators? Findings from the Second European Survey on Working Conditions.” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 54 (7): 494–501.

            7. , and . 2001. “Health Financing: Designing and Implementing Pro-Poor Policies.” London: Department for International Development Health Systems Resource Centre. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://www.heart-resources.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Health-financing.pdf.

            8. , , , and . 2000. “Neoliberal Trade and Investment and the Health of Maquiladora Workers on the US-Mexico Border.” in Dying for Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor , edited by , , , and , 261–90. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

            9. 2003. The Boom and the Bubble: The US in the World Economy . London: Verso.

            10. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2011. “Understanding Racial and Ethnic Disparities in US Mortality Rates.” National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief. Accessed October 25, 2016. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db74.htm.

            11. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. n.d. “National Health Expenditures Projections.” Accessed May 3, 2016. https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/proj2012.pdf.

            12. 2004. “Beyond the Income Inequality Hypothesis: Class, Neo-liberalism, and Health Inequalities.” Social Science & Medicine 58: 41–56.

            13. , , , and . 2016. “Explaining Health Care Reform: Risk Adjustment, Reinsurance, and Risk Corridors.” KFF.org , August 17. Accessed September 6, 2016. http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/explaining-health-care-reform-risk-adjustment-reinsurance-and-risk-corridors/.

            14. , , , and . 2014. “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally.” The Commonwealth Fund. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2010/jun/mirror-mirror-update.

            15. DHSS (Department of Health and Social Security). 1980. “The Black Report.” Socialist Health Association. Accessed July 16, 2015. http://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/public-health-and-wellbeing/poverty-and-inequality/the-black-report-1980.

            16. 2005. Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New War on the Poor . Berkeley: University of California Press.

            17. 1993. Healing the Masses: Cuban Health Politics at Home and Abroad . Berkeley: University of California Press.

            18. , and . 2014. “Stagnation and Financialization: The Nature of the Contradiction.” Monthly Review 66 (1): 1–24.

            19. , and . 2012. The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the USA to China . New York, NY: Monthly Review Press.

            20. Gaceta Oficial de Cuba. 2014. “Texto de la Ley No. 118 de la Inversion Extranjera [Text of Act No. 118 of Foreign Investment].” Granma , April 16. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2014-04-16/asamblea-nacional-del-poder-popular.

            21. The Galen Institute. n.d. “Mission and History.” Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.galen.org/about/mission-and-history.

            22. 2012. “The Limited Influence of Global Civil Society: International Environmental Non-governmental Organisations and the Methyl Bromide Controversy in the Montreal Protocol.” Environmental Politics 21 (1): 88–107.

            23. 2009. “US Health Reform and the Stolkholm Syndrome.” in Socialist Register, 2010. Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism , edited by and , 103–24. London: Merlin Press and Monthly Review Press.

            24. 2008. “Health Care Reform: Design Principles for a Patient-Centered, Consumer-Based Market.” The Heritage Foundation. Accessed December 12, 2016. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/04/health-care-reform-design-principles-for-a-patient-centered-consumer-based-market.

            25. 1997. Down on the Killing Floor: Black and White Workers in Chicago's Packinghouses, 1904–54 . Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

            26. 1971. “The Inverse Care Law.” The Lancet 297 (7696): 405–12.

            27. 2010. The Enigma of Capital: And the Crises of Capitalism . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

            28. The Heritage Foundation. 2016. “Health Care.” Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.heritage.org/issues/health-care.

            29. 2009. “The Marketization of Health Care in Europe.” in Socialist Register, 2010. Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism , edited by and , 125–44. London: Merlin Press and Monthly Review Press.

            30. , , , , and . 2000. “Decline of Mortality in Children in Rural Gambia: The Influence of Village-Level Primary Health Care.” Tropical Medicine & International Health 5 (2): 107–18.

            31. 2006. The Political Economy of US Militarism . New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

            32. 2014. Beyond Mainstream Explanations of the Financial Crisis: Parasitic Finance Capital . New York, NY: Routledge Frontiers.

            33. , , , , and . 2014. “Greece's Health Crisis: From Austerity to Denialism.” The Lancet 383: 748–53.

            34. 2009. “Health, Health Care and Capitalism.” in Socialist Register, 2010. Morbid Symptoms: Health under Capitalism , edited by and , 1–28. London: Merlin Press and Monthly Review.

            35. , , and . 2004. “Comprehensive versus Selective Primary Health Care: Lessons for Global Health Policy.” Health Affairs 23 (3): 167–76.

            36. 1978. “Introduction.” in Capital , vol. II, edited by , 11–79. London: Penguin Books.

            37. , , , and . 1978. “Employment Grade and Coronary Heart Disease in British Civil Servants.” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 32: 244–49.

            38. (1867) 1976. Capital , vol. I. London: Penguin Books.

            39. (1894) 1981. Capital , vol. III. London: Penguin Books.

            40. 2000. Medical Sociology . Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

            41. , and . 1977. “The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century.” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 55: 481–91.

            42. Medicaid. n.d. “Eligibility.” Accessed October 24, 2016. https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/eligibility/index.html.

            43. , , , , , , and EMCONET Network. 2010. “A Macro-Level Model of Employment Relations and Health Inequalities.” International Journal of Health Services 40 (2): 215–21.

            44. NCCP (National Council for Children in Poverty). 2014. “Measuring Poverty.” Accessed October 24, 2016. http://www.nccp.org/topics/measuringpoverty.html.

            45. 1976. Medicine under Capitalism . New York, NY: Prodist.

            46. , and . 2001. “The Political Context of Social Inequalities and Health.” Social Science & Medicine 52: 481–91.

            47. , , , , , and . 2008. “Strengthening Health Systems in Poor Countries: A Code of Conduct for Nongovernmental Organizations.” American Journal of Public Health 98 (12): 2134–40.

            48. 2004. Cuba: A Revolution in Motion . London: Fernwood Publishing and Zed Books.

            49. , , and . 2000. Theoretical Therapies, Remote Remedies: SAPs and the Political Ecology of Poverty and Health in Africa . Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

            50. 1998. “State versus Private Ownership.” Working paper, no. 6665, National bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://www.nber.org/papers/w6665.pdf?new_window=1.

            51. 2000. “The Smoke and Mirrors of Health Reform in El Salvador: Community Health NGOs and the Not-so-Neoliberal State.” in Dying for Growth: Global Inequality and the Health of the Poor , edited by , , , and , 359–81. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

            52. 1993. Solidarity and Survival: An Oral History of Iowa Labor in the Twentieth Century . Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

            53. SAPRIN (Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network). 2004. Structural Adjustment: The Policy Roots of Economic Crisis, Poverty and Inequality . London: Zed Books.

            54. 2012. Globalization and Technocapitalism: The Political Economy of Corporate Power and Technological Domination . Farnham: Ashgate.

            55. 2011. “More Proof That the American For-Profit Health Insurance Model Is Doomed.” Forbes Magazine , December 28. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/12/28/more-proof-that-the-american-for-profit-health-insurance-model-is-doomed/.

            56. , and . 2016. “Obamacare: The Neoliberal Model Comes Home to Roost.” Monthly Review 68 (1): 1–18.

            57. Wall Street Journal . 2016. “Aetna's Obamacare Shock: Expecting to Lose $300 Million, the Insurer May Opt Out.” Wall Street Journal , August 2. Accessed April 28, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/aetnas-obamacare-shock-1470178316.

            58. 2007. “A Typology of Actions to Tackle Social Inequalities in Health.” Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 61 (6): 473–78.

            59. 2012. Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism . Chicago: Haymarket Books.

            60. World Health Organization. 2006. “Working Together for Health: The World Health Report 2006.” The World Health Organization, Geneva. Accessed December 11, 2016. http://www.who.int/whr/2006/whr06_en.pdf.

            61. World Health Organization. 2010. “The World Health Report: Health Systems Financing: The Path to Universal Coverage.” The World Health Organization, Geneva. Accessed December 11, 2016. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44371/1/9789241564021_eng.pdf.

            62. World Health Organization. 2016. “Health Expenditure Ratios, by Country, 1995–2014: United States of America.” Global Health Observatory. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.HEALTHEXPRATIOUSA?lang=en.

            Comments

            Comment on this article