The Social Transformation of American Medicine

The blog I chose was "The Social Transformation of American Medicine" by Paul Star though I read the summary by Ashley Crossman. She tells us that the book was two parts with the first regarding the rise of professional sovereignty but the second built on the transformation of medicine into an industry. She goes on to write that early on the medical field received hostility as it was seen to be built on privilege. Later though, as licenses and codes of conduct were introduced the field became more acceptable. The social class also came in in the first book as he states that there was originally a large amount of inequality as their class was more based on their families status. Another interesting topic was the development of the hospitals throughout different stages as they started out being for particular things then changed to be the all around care we know today. With the changes of the hospital came the changes/evolution of different roles in the hospital as well. The article goes on to summarize the five major structural changes in the distribution of power that "played a major role in the social transformation of American medicine". These five changes are: the emergence of an informal control system in medical practice resulting from the growth of specialization and hospitals,
stronger collective organization and authority/the control of labor markets in medical care, the profession securing a special dispensation from the burdens of hierarchy of the capitalist enterprise, the elimination of countervailing power in medical care, and the establishment of specific spheres of professional authority. The second book is about how medicine became a business with government and other businesses having a stake in it. Another issue that came up is how the Great Depression and New Deal affected and still affect various insurances. It does touch on Blue Cross paving the way for American health insurance though. Later on though health insurance was an employment benefit and "reduced the likelihood that only the sick would buy insurance and it reduced the large administrative costs of individually sold policies." Though the book only goes through till 1980, its ideas still are true in healthcare centers all throughout America today.