Banking on health: the surging pandemic of health financialization

Dentico N. Society for International Development (SID) (2023) CC
In the last three decades, health financialization has surged in several creative ways, yet this growing phenomenon remains surprisingly unknown, and neglected, in the global health arena. Financialization in the health domain could be described as the uncontrolled expansion of finance along various lines of healthcare provision. Health has been intentionally transformed into a commodity as private for-profit actors have been allowed freedom to operate - and ultimately play with people’s fundamental right to health - for their vested financial interests, nationally and internationally. Health financialization is thrivingly pursued today for example through the institutionalization of medical knowledge monopolies, the expansion of markets and of financial techniques applied to healthcare insurance schemes, the soaring digitalization of global health interventions and the booming data industry.