“Trade,” Health Care & Higher Education Policy
To most Americans, affordable health care and access to medicines exist to preserve the health of our society, and higher education is an instrument of democratization, upward mobility, and equal opportunity. But to some, both of these sectors are just big business - exportable and importable commodities - with big profit potential. For-profit education services firms want NAFTA and WTO-style trade agreements to set higher education policy that will promote their business goals; Big Pharma and health care insurers know they can use these same NAFTA/WTO agreements as another tool to forestall comprehensive health care reform that benefits consumers rather than the industry.
For more on how the NAFTA/WTO model's extreme deregulatory agenda affects these two crucial service sectors, please visit our health care page and our higher education page.
