(search bar didn't give me anything on this)
Hey! I'm pretty new to Marxism and I'm trying to think of healthcare labor in the terms of commodity production, but I don't know if it even applies. I tried googling, but I couldn't find anything relevant.
The way I'm starting is: how much of the total labor time of a given society is dedicated to:
a) preventing or ameliorating the reduction of labor force by
-
preventing diseases, specific or in general;
-
shortening the duration and/or reducing the damage of stablished diseases;
-
rehabilitating the patients who end up with some form of disability due to a disease;
(These are called prevention stages)
b) increasing the labor force with better mother/child health conditions
c) caring for those in need
-
with direct repercussions on labor force and/or demand for healthcare labor e.g. someone leaving their job so they have time to care for a son with a genetic disability; an elderly person needing constant, high cost treatments and interventions due to a diabetic foot and kidney failure;
-
without direct repercussions on labor, or care for care's sake.
Can you guys help me navigate this by providing sources, giving directions or expanding on something? Thanks!
Unsure if this is what you're asking for but here I go with an overly simplistic attempt. Start by breaking down a specific healthcare need such as "treating a broken finger". Record the number of hours it takes to diagnose, treat, followup, etc. Calculate the dollar cost (or appropriate currency) as best as you can; cost of expendables used, wages of medical workers, and other more concrete dollar valued things. If possible or necessary add some fraction of the less concrete dollar valued things by working out some calculations for the cost of running a medical facility, training/education of medical professionals, retirement, retention efforts and other administrative things.
Do some more math and that should get an approximation, in currency, of the value of a healthcare service.
If you're asking about how things like healthcare relate to things like a factory worker making widgets, maybe think of it like a technician who is called in to repair or maintain a machine in the factory (a bit dehumanizing of an example but their purpose is the same in a way). When the machinery is fixed/maintained, the factory can maintain productivity or increase productivity. When the workers are kept in good health and their injuries are properly treated, the factory can maintain productivity.
At this point, I think even I am unsure of what I'm asking, tbf. I'll just go back to Kapital I guess.
Thanks for the reply! The last paragraph is more in line with what I was thinking