Column | We allowed the destructive power of money

These general reflections showed the great shift to the left in all its glory. Even the right-wing members of parliament are talking about social security, an increase in the minimum wage and protection of the climate, nature and the environment. In the wings of the House of Representatives, an additional increase in the minimum wage is being financed with an extra grip in the pockets of the business community and wealthy Dutch people: a tax on the purchase of own shares and an increase in top rates in box 2 and box 3. . Twenty years ago, people might just as easily have looked first at a reduction in benefits. Now it is clear where the money should come from: from capital.

And twenty years ago, the right-wing voice in me would have called out to that group of MPs in the wings: don’t you know that every euro has to come from somewhere at some point? Everything that returns as a supplement, as a state pension, as a child-related budget, and also the minimum wage, must first be earned by an entrepreneur somewhere.

But the voice has silenced, in the House, in the country and also in me. My right-wing disposition shriveled. Concerns about inequality and the accidents caused by our government dominate. And in addition, I increasingly feel pure anger about the destructive power of money that we have allowed in our country.

Good to read your diaries every now and then. Then you have to conclude that your own principles, which you considered fundamental at the time, on which you perhaps even based your identity, are constantly subject to change. Beliefs are often just a response to your time. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s wise not to tattoo them on your forearm.

So while I never had many problems with wanting to make a lot of money, with economic growth and entrepreneurship, that is starting to change now that we are increasingly seeing how capital is being used to maximum advantage to take advantage of the weaknesses in our healthcare systems. Take, for example, the influence of private equity that abuses the scarcity in healthcare by buying up GP practices and immediately cutting back on accessibility and availability. Mirjam de Rijk writes in The Green Amsterdammer about the dozen negative externalities that unadulterated shareholder capitalism has in the elderly caregeneral practitioner and dental practices and the childcare. In pieces with titles such as “Toddlers are a ‘market’” and “Walking in with the elderly” she describes what happens when very crafty boys mainly take the cake. Typical trick from private equityplaybook: for example, you only select patients with mild dementia, the low-hanging fruit from whom you can cash the full government amount while you can get by with a mild care regime.

NRC also previously described how you can focus on simple mental health care questions that you can resolve with a cheap digital consultation, while you don’t have to worry about all the complex cases. In a private clinic you provide fantastic care by performing a lot of manageable surgical procedures and scans without anyone having to work a night shift or staff an intensive care unit or emergency room full of frail brothers. Non-commercial institutions see how their patients’ care needs are becoming more complex, waiting lists are longer and losses are greater. How could that happen?

American research shows that there are net zero positive effects of private equity in healthcare. It will only become more expensive while the quality will remain the same at best. And you can only keep that quality the same if you are extremely strict with a lot of rules. Maddening for the employees, but relaxation is not possible when a dozen private equity firms are eager to cut corners, make more margins and thus extract more profit.

And perhaps it is good to remember that all this was achieved because left-wing parties once abandoned their principles in line with the spirit of the times. They were seduced by the mirrors and beads of the free market. You can bet that we are now going too far in something. We’ll see in twenty years.

Rosanne Hertzberger is a microbiologist.