Modern Medicine Very Profitable: Virgin Buys In

by Heidi Stevenson

18 March 2010

Richard Branson has the Midas Touch. He has now pointed his golden finger at the UK's healthcare system by buying a major holding in a primary healthcare company. Virtually everything he touches turns into profits at the expense of customers, and he's seen a huge opportunity in modern medicine.

Don't think of it as a service for your health. It isn't. Even in the UK, the primary purpose at the primary care level is profits.

In his teens, Branson made himself a millionaire in popular music records. Then he moved into recording rock groups. He made one disastrous attempt at producing records and learned his lesson. From then on, he focused on making money.

Branson formed Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Mobile (cell phones) in the UK, then branched out into other countries with Virgin Blue airline in Australia. He started Virgin Train and took over the Intercity West Coast section of Great Britain's rail system. The Virgin brand is now almost everywhere. It's in comics, internet broadband, landline phones, animation and entertainment, finance, and will soon be seen in fuels as he tries to profit on fears of global warming.

And now he intends to profit from the disastrous health people are in and their equally disastrous sick care system by purchasing a 75% ownership of Assura Medical. He intends to focus on primary healthcare and pharmacy. At a time when primary care from GPs is deteriorating in the UK—a direct result of making GPs private contractors instead of employees—Branson is jumping in to take his cut of the increasing profits.

My First, and Last, Virgin Train Trip

To express just how frightening the spectre of Virgin operating medical services is, let me describe my first, and last, trip on a Virgin train:

I had phoned and asked to assure that there would be no bus interruption, because they were frequent on that route. I was assured that the train ran the distance. It didn't. On reaching the first station, without announcement, the routing board directed to a bus.

The bus driver assured that there would be no problem making connections. About 20 minutes into the ride, he pulled over and announced that he had reached the end of his shift and we would wait for another driver—but not to worry, we wouldn't be late for our connections. About half an hour later, the new driver showed up and we were on our way.

Of course, when we arrived at the station, everyone with a connection found that it had left—and there were no more trains to my destination. I finally found where to make my complaint—in an office behind an unmarked door. I was treated like a nuisance and accused of not actually taking the train that my ticket clearly showed I'd taken. I was left standing for about 20 minutes. When the clerk came back, I was told there were no more trains that day for my destination.

On my further complaint, the clerk again left and came back a few minutes later. They put me on another train, which they rerouted to a closed station in the middle of the night. (I do wonder if the people on that train made their connections.) They dropped me there, where I was met by an employee who was clearly put out over it. The next part of my journey was by taxi.

The taxi driver they'd hired was supposed to drop me off at another empty station in the middle of the night. Fortunately, he took pity on me, agreeing to take me to my destination, rather than leave me at risk alone in an empty station. The drive was another hour. I arrived at midnight, more than four hours late.

The return trip was relatively uneventful—except that most of the toilets on the train didn't function, and one smelled so bad it made the car it was in unlivable.

Of course, trains like that are sure to bring loads of customers to his healthcare business. Can't you just see the advertisements on the trains?

Trains are profitable—and there's little downside to lying, providing bad service, arriving late, and not cleaning or repairing public toilets—with the likely exception of the rare passenger, like me, who dares to complain. But, the added stress and exposure to germs will surely be good business for Virgin's medical business.

Obviously, nowadays, even in a country with apparently nationalized healthcare, modern medicine is about profits, and it appears to matter not one whit what it costs our health or our pocketbooks.

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