The commodification of health

Tomás Douds
Philosophy, of free markets
7/12/2018
1072 words
 In a world as globalized and as seduced by the Market as it is today, it forces us to
have the duty as citizens to question the decisions that are taken day by day, like the mania
of putting a price on everything. Today in the market it is sold from the birth of the
newborn to its stone for his death. And our defender fronts our rights, the state, continues
to promote the pricing of everything.

The change of the role of the State in the management of public companies that provided
public goods and services occurred for the first time in England, under the government of
Margaret Thatcher, thus gaining strength in all capitalist governments. The central
argument was the inefficiency on the part of the government to deliver the goods and
services to the population, generating numerous deficiencies. In this way, the solution
was to transfer to the private sector the production and supply of certain goods and
services, among which health stands out. In this way, health was commercialized by
governments, in order to generate a market of competition and that this same set prices.

“There is a very close link between health and the consumer market, reaching the
question of how health should be approached, whether as a social right or as a market
product”1. It is important to clarify that people do not go to hospitals or drugs to consume
health. It is the opposite, every human being needs health, and we do not attend this by a
whim. Health is of vital importance to all human beings. A person in poor health will not
be able to work or study in the right way, and cannot enjoy his life completely. So the
right to health is a fundamental right for all human beings. Many times good health
depends mainly on two main factors, biological and socioeconomic factors, both
independent of the will of the people. In addition to what was already mentioned in the
previous paragraph, many of the clients of the Health market are not fully informed. They
lack information on health insurance, nor do they handle the information or the risk of
diseases, their symptoms, their treatments, among others, thus assuming great risks. All
this due to the lack of information that people handle and the little transparency that exists
in this market that has been armed and developed around health.

The commodification of health, more than anything, has generated inequity in access to
it, in addition to delivering degraded services and products. It is enough to see the father
of commodification, the United States of America, where several studies2 show that
health services are inefficient, thus generating a great waste. Even more worrisome are
other studies that claim that only half of patients receive the recommended care and that
30% receive contraindicated care. These are the clear demonstration that making health a
commodification we are worsening its quality and performing a bad practice.
Still, many contradict saying that the commodification of health improves the service
delivered, when the reality continues to be different. The objective of this
commodification is the same as all, the economic benefit, which contradicts the ethical

1
Social Science & Medicine, Volume 69, Issue 1, July 2009, Pages 21-27

2
Dill Ann E.P. Managing to care: care management and service system reform. Hawthorn, N.Y.: Aldine Books Publishers; 2001.
principles and the main objective of medicine. Private health does not govern its pillars
in solidarity and altruism, but it does so by extracting the maximum profitability that can
be obtained from both the product and the service.

In a subject with as many dimensions and as delicate as it is health, we must question

whether it really is the best for society that health is not only influenced by the market but
also manipulated by it. Many times one is blinded and does not measure the importance
of health for the simple reasons that we have health insurance that takes care of that
(private health insurance and paid most of the time), paying to make sure we receive
quality care, to avoid long lines in medical offices, or even opting for them to come to the
comfort of our home. But that is a particular case and not the reality of the vast majority.
This is a harsh reality that is lived in these times where everything has its price, who the
great exponent in dealing with these issues is the same and great philosopher and Harvard
professor, Michael Sandel, who gives us such basic examples of what has been come to
commercialize ridiculing it to the point that there are people who pay for other people to
do the lines for them in big events, in order to save their time. Colleges and scholars of
the United States, have chosen to pay children for each book they read, seeking to
encourage their reading. These people are not aware of the damage they can cause to the
future in the behavior of that child, nor less achieve their goal, since children chose to
read shorter books. The issue that concerns us goes beyond making a line or reading a
book, since what is being traded is health, a matter that affects us all equally, from the
most populous to the richest and from the youngest to the oldest. Extracting what they
say from Baudrillard (1998): “identified the body as the finest consumer object, which
has become an entity of salvation in consumer societies”3.

As a society we have already allowed ourselves to accept what is stable, yet it is important
to remember, reflect and try to change. As could be appreciated, we live in a world where
others are paid to make our lines, women are paid as instruments that develop children in
their bellies, and we even pay for our rights, as is the case of health, where you pay for a
service and product that does not reach the customer, we the people, in the best condition
or in the right way. We lack the correct information about this health that they sell us.
The only thing that has been achieved with the commercialization of health has been an
economic benefit. Is that exactly what health looks for?

3
Your Wealth is your Health’: A Study of the Commodification of Health Services in Ireland, Margaret Lysaght, M. Soc. Sc,
Critical Social Thinking: Policy and Practice, Vol. 1, 2009.
- Dill Ann E.P. Managing to care: care management and service system reform.
Hawthorn, N.Y.: Aldine Books Publishers; 2001.
- Dranove D. The economic evolution of American health care: from Marcus Wellby to
managed care. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Paperbacks; 2002.
-Schuster MA, McGlynn EA, Brooks RH. How good is the quality of health care in the
United States? Milbank Q. 2005; 83.
- https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/appliedsocialstudies/docs/MargaretLysaght.pdf