Thanks for the link. I agree with what he’s saying, but would add that his entire argument could be summed up in one word: privatization. ;)[/quote]
I don’t think the word even applies. It usually refers to the shift of ownership and delivery of goods and services from the public sector to the private sector. A hundred years ago, there was almost no involvement of government in health care. Significant funding for the CDC is less than 70 years old, for the NIH, less than 50. Medicare is 50 years old, Medicaid a few years younger. What we’ve seen over the last 50 years is de-privatization.[/quote]
Correct. I used the word “privatization” when I should have used private or for-profit, instead. It’s not the shift from public to private that I’m talking about (though one could make that argument WRT publicly-funded research and drugs/medical devices that end up in the hands of private companies), but the existence of a for-profit/private healthcare system instead of a nationalized/public system. The Privatization Movement does refer more directly to the private takeover of public assets and cash flows, as you’ve noted.
