The Corporate Compromise: A Marxist View of Health Policy

The dominance of economic imperatives and the corporate transformation of American medicine is strikingly congruent with Karl Marx's century old description of the development of a capitalist industry.

Abstract

Over the past century medical care has evolved from a small cottage industry, through a period of rapid expansion as a charitable public service, to an enormously profitable and increasingly private business. Medicine has become one of the largest industries in the United States, and economics now competes with science and humanitarian concerns in shaping the future of medical care. The dominance of economic imperatives and the corporate transformation of American medicine is strikingly congruent with Karl Marx's century old description of the development of a capitalist industry.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.