ABSTRACT

The United Kingdom (UK's) health policy is increasingly directed towards getting people back into work or off welfare benefits to reduce the financial loss to the economy. This emphasis on the financial costs of mental health has led to an important policy link between 'wealth and wellbeing' and the focus of welfare reform on individual 'health' and 'fitness' for work. This chapter focuses on the massive growth of attempts to open up healthcare markets to private providers. Most recently the highly contested Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), which aims to secure access to markets, including the National Health Service (NHS). The strategic advantage of multinational corporation (MNCs) is that they are large and can manage long-term expansion into new markets like the NHS by subsidising services and securing large and long-term contracts.