Workshop: A068 The health care battle

Since the mid-1980s the healthcare system in Germany has been transformed into a market. The effects have been devastating. Hospital workers have been fighting back against the conditions since 2015. What do they propose? What needs to change?

Since the mid-1980s the healthcare system in Germany, and especially the hospital sector, has been transformed into a market. With the introduction of per-case flat rates, this development has reached a temporary climax: Even non-profit hospitals have to behave like capitalist enterprises in this system. All processes are subordinate to economic priorities, meaning trimmed to profit or the "black zero." The effects on workers and patients have been devastating. This became obvious during the Corona crisis: it became clear that in Germany there are many hospitals that are technically very well equipped and have a relatively high number of intensive care beds, but that have far too little staff for the patients. Hospital workers have been fighting back against these conditions since 2015. There was a strike in Berlin in 2021 that lasted for over four weeks where healthcare workers demanded relief and more staff.
What are the solutions to these problems? What do the workers propose? What has to change in order for the healthcare system to prioritise the needs of patients? This raises fundamental questions of capitalist socialisation, which we want to discuss in the workshop.

Info

Day: 2022-08-19
Start time: 16:30
Duration: 01:45
Room: SE01 Organization:
Track: Capitalism, health and social crisis
Language: de

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