LIn his address to the French on March 12, 2020, Emmanuel Macron stated: “This pandemic shows that there are goods and services that need to be removed from the laws of the market. » He concluded: “The coming weeks and months will require groundbreaking decisions in this direction. I’ll take it over. »

The increase in public health spending on the occasion of Ségur de la santé could have heralded the return of the welfare state. Unfortunately, everything leads us to believe the opposite. This is evidenced by the most recent Sciences Po July 2023 report on the financialization of health as well as comments from private equity players collected in “Decision Makers” magazine. in June 2021 and September 2022.

Financial actors know the deficits of the health system and its connections to state failure. Arnaud Petit, President of Edmond de Rothschild Corporate Finance, explains in “Decision Makers” magazine. that if private equity has one “real madness” There are several reasons for the healthcare sector, the first being this “relative withdrawal of the state”. Others, like Benoît Poulain, head of mergers and acquisitions within the Elsan Group, believe so “Necessary for the development of territorial medical cooperation and [de] Promoting diversification to ultimately improve the quality of healthcare.”.

For Gilles Bigot and Julie Vern Cesano-Gouffrant from Winston & Strawn, investment funds play a driving role “Modernization, optimization and industrialization of the medical sector”. And to add: “The financialization of health must be demonized to highlight its benefits, which meet a population need. »

Doctors confiscated their work equipment

In fact, since the 2010s, financialization has only reinforced the logic of concentration and industrialization of health structures brought into being by public policies. The strategy is the same everywhere: they strive to take control of structures, if necessary by buying them back from their professional owners at a high price, and “streamline” Activities to make them more profitable. The capital contribution is accompanied by a reorganization of work through new governance.

Employed doctors no longer have control over their work equipment and no longer have any influence on strategic directions. The new structures made profitable in this way can then be sold on, particularly to pension funds.

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