U.S. Health Care Faces A Crisis of Trust

Smooth-talking, utility-maximizing, efficiency-chasing technocrats have built quiet but remunerative careers draining the humanity out of the healing arts.

by Ian Marcus Corbin and Joe Waters

The COVID vaccines are working. Studies paint a clear picture, the FDA has now given full approval to the Pfizer version and public health experts are unanimous: you and yours should almost certainly get vaccinated. But expertise is of limited utility without public trust, and American society is in the throes of a terrible and growing crisis of trust.

COVID vaccine hesitancy, so inexplicable and frustrating when viewed in isolation, is just one manifestation of this crisis, in which conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers are merely opportunistic bit players. The larger story is one of smooth-talking, utility-maximizing, efficiency-chasing technocrats who have built quiet but remunerative careers draining the humanity out of the healing arts. Under their leadership, medical systems have metastasized, profits have spiked and patients have been left feeling alienated and unseen.