| Privately publicized privatisation of public services. |
[26 Jul 2007|03:18pm] |
My research into privatisation, specifically the Health sector, here in the UK was spurred by a conversation with my mother. It's not too late to get involved or spread the word about what is happening here in Britain and also in the U.S. (although i'm not too clear on what can be done across the pond in terms of lobby groups etc.).
I'm not too sure when this all started, but a few articles seem to outline a rough process of developments. I've tried to lay-out my research in an easy to follow and hopefully informative manner.
In 1997 the US government passed the 'Balanced Budget Act' which "allows doctors to have "private contracts" with Medicare beneficiaries."
( Enjoy!?Collapse )
Coming back across the water, to my home country, it's interesting to see the developments here in relation to what i have described above.
According to this story in The Guardian newspaper, it wasn't until April 2002 that privatizing Britains Health sector was pushed for by, well, the private sector. There are already parts of our health sector which are privatized, and there may well have been lobby attempts in the past, but this article seems to suggest that there was renewed pressure to allow private bodies more access in running public services.
( What do PFI schemes and Amicus have in common?Collapse )
It's time i wrapped this up.
American private firm 'United Health Group', through it's subsidiary 'UnitedHealth Europe', "ahead of 17 other bidders", won a contract to provide Primary Health Care in Derbyshire, UK. It's interesting to note the reference to a previous contract closure, which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.
This academic essay outlines some of the differences, similarities and benefits in a comparison of the US and UK Health care systems. It concludes that "Given the uncertainty of which member one might be in a given society, the lack of equality and high risk of having to be uninsured made us choose the NHS system, even though for many specific treatments and income brackets the US seems to fair better." So we have to bare in mind that private companies are 'economically' efficient... which is very different from being performance or even socially efficient.
In the end, it really does seem to me that, if you're rich, we'll look after you. Mostly because we can make money from rich people, and poor people are nothing but an expense. Well, we'll see how much of an expense we are when we all file for our 2 weeks paid sick leave... all at the same time. Now there's an idea!
If anyone reading this is British, please tell anyone interested to join Amicus or Unison and try to get them involved in stopping the privatization of Britains Health Sector!
(Not to mention Britains trains, the London Underground, our schools... where does it end?)
( Thank you for taking the time to read, feedback highly welcomed :)Collapse )
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