Health Care as a Human Right, Not a Capitalist Commodity
Luigi Mangione’s Perspective on Revolutionizing Health Care for the Masses
For too long, the capitalist health care system has preyed upon the vulnerable. In a society where profit takes precedence over human lives, health care has become a privilege rather than a right. From my perspective as a devoted Marxist and advocate for the working class, the commodification of health care is an abomination that must be dismantled.
The Exploitation of the Sick
Private health insurance companies have turned illness into an opportunity for exploitation. The parasitic CEOs of corporations like UnitedHealthcare, who rake in millions in profits, embody the capitalist system’s moral decay. These executives thrive while working families face insurmountable medical debt. The injustice is glaring: under capitalism, you are valued more as a customer than as a human being.
This system is not merely flawed—it is criminal. By charging exorbitant premiums and denying essential care through loopholes and technicalities, these corporations effectively decide who lives and who dies. Their insidious methods keep the proletariat chained to their desks, working themselves into exhaustion just to afford a fraction of the care they deserve.
The Marxist Critique of Private Health Insurance
Marx and Lenin both understood the corrosive nature of profit-driven systems, particularly when these systems infiltrate essential services like health care. Lenin wrote that a society’s strength lies in its ability to provide for its weakest members. Yet in the United States, health care is an industry that thrives on inequality, creating a two-tiered system: one for the wealthy and one for the rest of us.
From a Marxist standpoint, private health insurance is the epitome of bourgeois oppression. It creates artificial scarcity, limits access to resources, and forces workers into dependency. It’s a system designed not to heal, but to maintain the status quo of exploitation.
Revolutionary Solutions
What is the alternative? A system where health care is universal and accessible to all. A system where no one profits from another’s suffering. Achieving this vision requires the complete eradication of private health insurance. To accomplish this, we must:
- Expose the Corruption: Shine a light on the profits made at the expense of human lives. Data and personal testimonies from those who’ve been denied care are powerful tools.
- Mobilize the Masses: Workers must see that their suffering is not an isolated phenomenon but a systemic issue. Through strikes, protests, and solidarity, we can demand a publicly funded health care system.
- Eliminate the Profit Motive: Transitioning to a single-payer system ensures that care is delivered based on need, not ability to pay. This requires public ownership of hospitals, insurance, and pharmaceutical companies.
The Role of Revolutionaries
Our work will not be easy. The health care industry is one of the largest political lobbyists in the capitalist system, spending billions to ensure their exploitative model endures. They manipulate public opinion, spread fear about universal health care, and buy politicians. But history has shown us that no oppressive system is invincible.
As Lenin said, “A revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation.” The skyrocketing cost of care, coupled with widespread disillusionment in the system, has created fertile ground for change. It is time for workers to rise, to reject private health insurance, and to reclaim their right to live without the shadow of medical bankruptcy.
The revolution in health care is not a dream—it is a necessity. The workers of the world must unite, not just to seize the means of production but to demand that their lives are no longer commodities in a capitalist marketplace.
