Strikes by the staff of EPAHD (French acronym—Foundation for Shelter for the Elderly and the Dependent) and other retirement homes serve as a reminder, especially to those who may have forgotten, that the core interest of power in any society since the dawn of time is linked to its relationship with death: a society that rations healthcare, does not manage the last years of life with decency, organizes an implicit euthanasia of the poorest, and does not give meaning to death, may be perceived rather quickly as illegitimate. The powers that be may be called into question and subsequently reversed.
It has happened many times in the last millennia. And without a doubt, it is a threat to our capitalist societies.
Though it is not only in France, but the current crisis there reminds us that the more efficient a healthcare system becomes, the more it heals and prolongs the life of all. As a result, it becomes more necessary to allocate a growing share of the country’s resources to healthcare. And if we do not do so, the growing threat becomes what I’ve feared and denounced for decades: an economic euthanasia of the poorest.
Make no mistake: it is already the case in many countries, where care is lacking, surgeries are delayed, and emergency services are overwhelmed; for the poorest. Great Britain and the United States are extreme cases of it.
France, where many care facilities are lacking in everything, is not unscathed. And in particular, the care given to the elderly is less and less sufficient, despite the dedication and competence of healthcare personnel. Those who can afford to stay in expensive establishments equipped with all services are exempt. Moreover, the powerful who have the means not to go through the general system and who, as in all societies for thousands of years, have more chances to live longer than others are also exempt.
The more advanced entrepreneurs understood these dangers. And, not wishing to disappear with the States in which they built their nest, they touted the idea that they could soon offer healthcare for all to the mass. And, they even made a more absurd promise, immortality.
These entrepreneurs will initially take control of medicine and merge insurance companies with major data processors (for example, Google with AXA or Microsoft with Prudential), sweeping the social security systems of states. They will provide each consumer in the world, via their mobile phone, the means to insure himself or herself and pay a premium, an amount that will vary according to the prevention efforts of the consumer. Today’s technologies already sorted out and allow for self-monitoring of health. The service is a voluntary enjoyment of an accepted servitude.
These firms will then provide the prosthetics necessary to respect, at least partially, this promise; opening a new gigantic field to grow their profits.
This is, in particular, what lies behind the messianic discourse of some of the proponents of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. It is also the reality behind the progress made in the field of autonomous cars, which is in fact only a step toward the essential for these companies: prosthetics and artificial organs.
This is also and above all what is hidden behind the suffering of those who lack everything in the last years of life: a shift towards a death economy that will gradually escape the States and political leaders who would not have seen in time that in this crisis, currently developing at a modest pace, the future of their existence is being played out.
j@attali.com
