Profits Over Patients: The Revolving Door of Deregulation
📰 THE STORY: The New York Times reports that after receiving significant donations from the nursing home industry, the Trump administration revoked a rule that would have mandated higher staffing levels. This deregulation reportedly exacerbated conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to preventable deaths among vulnerable residents. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context:
This isn't a new phenomenon. In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted, promising prosperity but instead leading to massive deregulation across industries, including healthcare and labor standards, prioritizing corporate mobility and profit over worker safety and public health. Similarly, Augusto Pinochet's US-backed regime in Chile, following the 1973 CIA coup,
implemented extreme neoliberal policies that gutted public services, including healthcare, for corporate benefit, a model often celebrated by figures like Milei today. Double Standard: When a nation like Venezuela struggles with healthcare or social services due to crushing US sanctions (e.g., $30 billion frozen from 2017-2023, causing medicine shortages), Western media attributes it solely to
government incompetence, ignoring the deliberate economic strangulation. Yet, when American elderly die due to deregulation pushed by wealthy donors, it's framed as a domestic political controversy, not a systemic failure of predatory capitalism, and certainly not the 'regime change' that sanctions aim for. Follow the Money: The nursing home industry poured millions into lobbying and campaign