(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!