Can capitalism and healthcare co-exist?

Profits over patients has sucked the "health" out of healthcare.

Let’s be clear: healthcare, in its truest, altruistic form, cannot exist inside a capitalistic society.

Because true healthcare—actual care—requires time, presence, compassion, nuance, and community. It requires slowing down, listening, and seeing people as whole human beings with complex emotional, physical, and spiritual needs.

And none of that fits into a billing code.

Capitalism asks: How do we maximize efficiency and profit?
Healthcare asks: How do we support human life and dignity?

You see the conflict?

In capitalism, patients become “consumers.” Appointments become “units of productivity.” And providers like me? It’s all about them metrics, baby! We’re measured by how many people and procedures we can churn through in a day—not how many we truly helped.

We’re told the system is overwhelmed. But the truth is—it’s just over-monetized.

Capitalism doesn’t just fail healthcare. It infects it.

It turns empathy into exhaustion, healing into hustle, and burnout into a badge of honor. Healthcare self-selects for those of us who care for others, extracts all of that compassion in dollars, and leaves our shell in its wake.

So if you’ve ever felt like the system isn’t built for real care—it’s because it’s not.

And if you’ve felt crazy, broken, or not "productive enough" for working in a system that treats wellness like a business plan—you’re not the problem.

Capitalism is.