Ask Prof Wolff: Why Profit-Driven Healthcare Fails Us

A Patron of Economic Update asks: "I’m curious how any attempts at worker self-direction and cooperative economics can be leveraged for building a new healthcare system (hospitals in particular) in the shell of the old. How can we address this highly disorganized and highly privatized, massive chunk of our economy and ensure it’s done in a politicizing way (rather than the very depoliticizing means of self-resignation)? Can worker cooperation be realized, or is federal and state policy and corporate largesse (and the brutalizing logic of administrative bureaucracy) too deep for this to be systematically realizable even on a local scale?"

This is Professor Richard Wolff's video response.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Marxism always was the critical shadow of capitalism. Their interactions changed them both. Now Marxism is once again stepping into the light as capitalism shakes from its own excesses and confronts decline.”

_________________________________________________________________________
Follow Wolff ONLINE:

[KingGiganTitanusROARKing]

Professor Wolff is an impressively devoted educator with a strong message. His positions on so many issues are very well supported

[Tom-Travels]

I live in a squalid rough neighborhood. I was drive by shot in the thigh. I went to the hospital. Three days later, I owed $78, 000, according to the collectors hounding me. I make $7.25 an hour (That's about $4 after taxes and deductions.) Now, I'll never be free of health care debt enslavement

[blrrich]

showed my children a video about Japanese healthcare. Their citizens talked about being able to walk to a local drs office and be seen the same day. I remember growing up hearing that the US healthcare system is the best in the world because there aren't wait times for appointments. Now that I'm an adult, I'm lucky if I'm seen within 2 months.

[laurasweeney]

I agree with your points. I've been waiting 50 years for change!

[knbkbt]

I have given up on seeking medical care. Bankrupting my family is not worth extending my painfilled life. The corporate medical industry is more corrupt than any other industry.

[jezebelinadancer]

The hospital administration "outsources" so much more of the Labor onto Us, the Patients or parents of Patients, than ever before. I could go into great detail here but can't at the moment. Patients who see and feel this know it's true.

I absolutely feel for and understand the stress and worry of the overworked nurses and technicians as well.

[oldsesalt]

My niece found out the hard way what free market health care delivers. Nothing. She paid her premiums for years out of her own pocket. Then she needed an operation. Nothing fancy, just a gallbladder removed. They've done a million of them. But they declared her gallbladder a pre-existing condition and canceled her insurance on the day of her scheduled operation. That is the capitalist ideal. Pure profit. High prices in exchange for nothing. It is like auto insurance for someone without a car or boat insurance for those without a boat.

[cosmicmusicreynolds]

Great analysis professor !
The health care system in the USA is going backwards to the degree that businesses will suffer because of the poor health of its workers

[daniellarson]

I thank the professor for spreading this message. To some it may have seemed like he was ranting on this issue. I don't think he was ranting enough. It's not hard to find facts showing just how bad the American health care system is. I don't understand why the public isn't enraged.

[OneBlurryLens]

Profit driven directly refers to the greedy people with decision making power that receive the majority of wealth from those profits.

[michelleneo]

.. Great work and great effort here which platform is suitable and okey for earning please, I'm new to this

[emiebex]

As long as people stay unhealthy Healthcare, Insurance, & Pharmaceutical companies will always have an excuse to make Billions by Price Gouging & making sure Healthcare stays Unaffordable.

[danielguzman]

I don’t agree with turning our healthcare system into worker co-ops. Worker co-ops also have a profit motive, so the problem that they are supposed to fix would still be there with the difference being that instead of the Kaiser family getting the most profit, it would be whichever worker co-op gets the largest share of the market.

I support much more a nationalized healthcare system, similarly to the VA. This would not be based on profits, and it would not participate in markets, similarly to the military, fire department, etc. If a worker co-op brings in less then it provides, it will collapse. This would not be case with a nationalized healthcare system. Also, it will be free, meaning that it will be paid for with our taxes.

[mauibill]

I think it's worth mentioning, since I worked in the health care industry for over 20 years, that the capitalist mentality invaded even the county and state hospitals. They would hire "management teams" from outside the medical field to "trim the fat' to meet budget requirements. In past days, when non profit hospitals ran short, they went to the community with fund raisers, asked for donations from businesses and the wealthy, and petitioned the government for more funds. It was working just fine before the capitalists invaded and just ruined everything.

[guts]

This seems like a question that answers itself. It's almost self-evident, but appreciate the upload nonetheless.

[alanbailey]

Our healthcare system is burdened with an unnecessary middleman, "HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES"

[bobcornwell]

I think what's being left out here are the doctors. They are often on both sides of this equation. They work as doctors, but they often own major facilities as well.

[daviddorais]

It is fundamentally unethical and immoral to profit from anyone's illness, chronic ill health, disease and death.

[notabene]

The poor and outdated house construction standards in the US have significant negative effects on the US population. Millions live in crumbling, moldy, poorly and inefficiently heated and cooled houses inhabited by all sorts of vermin inside their walls and attics.
Built for quick profits to the construction companies, these houses expire fast. Every owner sells the falling apart "house" to someone below them in the economic food chain and tries to find the best "deal" out there.
And that's for the lucky ones who can afford those "houses".

[ravenbone]

I've been rationing my anti-depressants because the practice my care providers work at refuse to see me because I don't have insurance despite being able to pay in cash. I have since mounted a spam campaign to wear them down until I get my way. Recalcitrance is a necessary trait in order to handle systems that are unfair/unjust.