The concept of the medical-industrial complex was first introduced in the 1971 book, The American Health Empire (Ehrenreich and Ehrenreich 1971) by Health-PAC. The medical-industrial complex (MIC) refers to the health industry, which is composed of the multibillion-dollar congeries of enterprises including doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, drug manufacturers, hospital supply and equipment companies, real estate and construction businesses, health systems consulting and accounting firms, and banks. As employed by the Ehrenreichs, the concept conveys the idea that an important (if not the primary) function of the health care system in the United States is business (that is, to make profits) with two other secondary functions, research and education.

Since that time, a number of authors have examined the medical-industrial complex: Navarro (1976, pp. 76, 80), Relman (1980), Estes and colleagues (1984), Wohl (1984), and McKinlay and Stoeckle (1994). Himmelstein and Woolhandler (1990) argue that health care facilitates profit making by (1) improving the productivity (health...