Medicine as Industry: The Health Care Sector in the United States

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Abstract
In the past 30 years, few sectors of the U.S. economy have escaped the periodic ravages of recession. The health-care industry is a notable exception. Since 1950 hospitals and other health-related enterprises have experienced uninterrupted, indeed meteoric, expansion. Between 1950 and 1982 national health expenditures increased more than 25-fold, reaching $322 billion per year, and the proportion of the GNP accounted for by the health sector increased from 4.4 to 10.5 percent. During the 1970s health-care employment increased from 4.2 to 7.5 million workers, accounting for one seventh of all new jobs in the United States. Moreover, these trends continued through the recession of the early 1980s, with health expenditures rising 17 percent in 1982, despite a growing clamor for cost control. The fast pace of hospital expansion is indicated by the fact that in 1980 the average age of hospital capital assets stood at an all time low of 7 years, as compared to 15 years for the service sector as a whole and 23 years for capital in manufacturing industries.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

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