78% Of American Doctors Are Employed By Corporations
The fact that around 78% of American doctors are employed by corporations is shocking. The corporatization of the medical profession and health sector is extremely concerning. Making profits has gazumped care of the patient as the top priority. The privatized health system in the Untied States is expensive and does not meet the needs of the people, especially those who most need it. Things are not getting better; indeed, they are getting worse. Private equity has run rampant through the healthcare sector and physicians have become mere units of production or service.
“Nearly 78% of US doctors are employed by hospitals or other corporate entities, such as insurers and PE firms, according to research from consultancy Avalere and the Physicians Advocacy Institute. For the first time, more medical practices were owned by corporate entities (30%) than hospitals (28%) as of January 2024, the research found.”
About 8 Out Of 10 Physicians Work For Big Corporations
Think about it, nearly 8 out of every 10 doctors you meet work for a large corporation, rather than being an independent physician. Americans are famous for fear mongering about socialism and the dangers of totalitarian regimes. The truth is that they already live in a world run by huge totalitarian corporations defining their lifestyles. The healthcare they get is determined by strict algorithms, which map out levels of service available and how many patients a day doctors see. This is the same for nurses and aids within the hierarchical system. For profit concerns drive their private healthcare operations in hospitals, clinics, medical centres and via access through the private health insurance schemes.
The Corporatization Of Healthcare In America
That 78% of American doctors are employed by corporations is worrying. The acceleration in this percentage of US physicians over the last decade and a half is an appalling indication of what has happened in America. Big corporations are taking over every aspect of American life. Not only that, they are exporting this corporatization globally. This distortion of capitalism via the corporate consolidation through mergers and takeovers means little to no competition in the market. Therefore, consumers, and by this I mean patients, are being screwed. Healthcare is far more expensive and choice has virtually disappeared.
“It is an important question as some would say American health care is in crisis due to corporatization. While there are exceptions, American hospitals have evolved from local community board-operated individual hospitals to large healthcare systems with central corporate governance over the past three decades. During this time, U.S. healthcare costs have risen from 721 billion in 1990 to $4.2 trillion, almost 20% of the GDP in 2021. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid projection for national expenditures will reach 6.2 trillion in 2028”
The Diminishment Of Doctors
Doctors have become well paid cogs in a factory machine. Many are too frightened to speak up about their working conditions because of the fear of dismissal. A few have spilt the beans about what is going on in these corporatized hospitals and medical centres. Independence is just a memory from a distant time. Patient care is monitored and strictly defined according to corporate protocols worked out by the accountants that run these big companies. Privatization is always talked up as being more efficient, yes more efficient at making money. These healthcare companies are making record profits like UnitedHealthcare in the hundreds of billions. Is this serving the patient or the shareholders?
An Unfair & Greedy Healthcare System
Many Americans are disgruntled about the expense and rigidity within the healthcare system in the US. Apart from Senator Bernie Sanders, who is a lone voice in government, the federal government does little to change things for the good. Big business runs things in America and everybody else is a mere bystander. Consumers are being shafted, workers have long been so, and it is only investors, boards and CEOs who are being rewarded. Doctors are on the journey that pilots went on in the 1980s when their profession declined in stature and remuneration levels thanks to corporatization.
Pilots became bus drivers and physicians will descend to functionaries in the health machine. Meanwhile, the money men and their investment companies will continue to suck the goodness out of everything they come into contact with.
The doctor has held a special place in the minds of the modern world for a long time. The symbolic white lab coat and stethoscope are frequently used in marketing to denote trust and goodness. The diminishment of this societal status is occurring at pace thanks to the ravages of this distorted version of capitalism sucking the life out of the profession.
Unchecked corporate greed is running amok in your country. What are you going to do about it?
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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