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Privatization is Killing Us: Dispatches from the Capitalist War on Society
Wright, Chris
http://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/02/privatization-is-killing-us-dispatches-from-the-capitalist-war-on-society/Date Written: 2018-05-02 Publisher: Counterpunch Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22637 A look at various sectors of society that are suffering under privatization in the United States- including education, the prison system, healthcare, and the environment. Abstract: -- Excerpt: What have been the consequences of these privatizations? Iowa is an illustrative case. According to a series of editorials for which Andie Dominick of the Des Moines Register won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize, the results have not been pretty. Since April 2016, three for-profit insurers have taken over management of health care for more than 500,000 Iowans, many of whom have, as a result, now lost access to services, equipment (such as wheelchairs), and even nutritional supplements. Against the advice of medical professionals, the insurers simply refuse to pay for needed care. Healthcare providers have been underpaid or not paid at all. A nursing home was forced to borrow $150,000 while waiting for reimbursements; a mental health facility was owed $300,000; a family planning clinic had to close. To take only three examples. The state has had to bail out the insurers and assume financial risk- which is ironic, since the supposed point of privatization was to provide state budget predictability in Medicaid spending. Before the privatization debacle, Iowa's Medicaid had lower per-person spending than many other states and provided reliable reimbursements to providers and consistency in coverage for vulnerable people. Subject Headings |