Resident Physicians Are Unionizing. They Must Challenge For-Profit Health Care.

  • 📰 truthout
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 68 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 30%
  • Publisher: 68%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

Physicians need to see how exploitative working conditions stem from a system constantly looking to increase profits.

Resident physicians are unionizing around the country. Most recently, residents at University of Vermont Medical Center , Stanford Medical Center, and Keck School of Medicine of USC all voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents , which is part of the larger Service Employees International Union . These wins come despite ongoing pushback from the hospital bosses. This resistance is coming because hospitals know unionized resident physicians will be harder to exploit.

Still, though, only about one seventh of the over 145,000 resident physicians in the United States today are unionized. But 100 percent of residents should have a union. As we have, residents are cheap labor in an exploitative, for-profit healthcare system. In many ways, residency training itself serves to condition physicians to act as tools for a capitalist healthcare system constantly looking to cut staff and cut costs to increase profits.

We undoubtedly need more resident unions, and as the number of resident unions grows, the most combative sectors of resident physicians need to explore how to push further beyond demands of workplace improvements and towards questioning the exploitative dynamic of residency itself and more largely the dynamics of the for profit healthcare system. For example, as we have, residents often work 80-100 hours per week during their training.

Resident mobilizations should go beyond the limits of medical residency. Resident physicians should fight together in their workplaces to challenge the exploitative healthcare system as a whole and push their unions to actually be fighting organs to fight for a better healthcare system. We see some glimmers of this in some of the current resident unionizing efforts where workers want to push for broader improvements at the workplace.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Good idea. Currently, US health care is strictly for the wealthy only.

They need to challenge health care insurance plans that let unlicensed people determine care already given was unnecessary (therefore not covered) because the patient survived because of the care they got.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 69. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Planned Parenthood health center opens in Inglewood amid court battle over abortion rightsThe grand opening of a new health center was held in Inglewood, aimed at addressing health-care inequities among African-Americans. Sterilization! Is the answer! They are targeting the black community. This is not a health care center 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️
Source: ABC7 - 🏆 67. / 68 Read more »

Naomi Osaka continues mental health journey with new partnership: 'Let’s try to remove the stigma and help'Nearly a year after withdrawing from the French Open to prioritize her mental health, Naomi Osaka is doing her part to continue raising awareness and destigmatize mental health care. Some athletes can handle the pressure of pro sports and some fold like oragami. No shame
Source: FoxBusiness - 🏆 458. / 53 Read more »

'Flatly Incomprehensible': White House Prepares to Ration Vaccines as GOP Obstructs Covid Aid'It's a result of poor preparation, underinvestment in public health, political polarization, and Covid minimization,' said one physician. This is what a failed state looks like; first slowly then all of the sudden. Our leaders aren’t leading. They’ve failed us.
Source: commondreams - 🏆 530. / 51 Read more »

Rural, Smaller Hospitals Relied Heavily On Covid Relief To Survive, Study SuggestsMore than $170 billion in Covid-19 relief funds the federal government allotted to struggling hospitals during the pandemic helped healthcare facilities stay afloat by offsetting major financial losses due to the coronavirus according to a new study. Punctuation? No elective surgeries. No this. No that. Who gets screwed? The patient. Who makes off like a fat rat? The hospitals because somebody made sure they remain solvent & whole.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »

Rural, Smaller Hospitals Relied Heavily On Covid Relief To Survive, Study SuggestsResearchers from Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health found the funding helped the most vulnerable healthcare facilities—government, rural and smaller hospitals—increase their profit margins from previous years. That tends to happen when you cancel all your big money making services… Never reject an unexpected windfall. Prop up the COVID deaths by all means & the money is forthcoming. Play along punk & we'll line your goddamed pockets with money. Well, this next wave ought to finish them off then, with Congress loathe to pass more COVID relief funding.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »