Social Analysis

Why is society allowing these disparities to happen? 

For the disease of cancer, capitalism has had a positive impact on the way the treatment of the disease was able to advance. With modern capitalism, the healthcare system has been able to develop precision medicines, high-intensity radiation, and private equity-financed high-tech oncology centers. Although these efforts have helped a multitude of patients, there is still a large group of people who are not able to access this treatment as well as individuals who are going bankrupt to receive this quality of treatment. A survey done by the National Partnership of Healthcare and Hospice Innovation revealed that more than 82% of Americans feel that the U.S. healthcare system prioritizes profits over patients. According to the CMS( Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services), the spending in the U.S. for healthcare has increased 4.1% to $4.5 trillion in 2022. Despite the high costs per person in the U.S. for healthcare, which is $13,493 annually, the care is not administered evenly, and Americans are receiving poor health outcomes compared to other nations. Regarding this issue, many physicians and nurses are even attributing burnout to the increasing corporatization of medicine.