Protests over the US takeover of dozens of NHS GP surgery contracts 

• THE body responsible for delivering primary health care in a large part of London, the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group, last week claimed that, following the takeover of dozens of surgeries by US health care giant Centene, “the same high quality services will continue to be delivered” by their staff, (GP takeover challenge reaches court, May 20).

Really? Perhaps members of that group should tune into Centene Corporation’s own recent presentation to investment analysts where Michael Neidorff, who is chairman, president and CEO of the corporation, said the following to Matt Borsch of BMO Capital Markets: “I want to assure you, Matt, that everything we do, it will be driven by profit and with a view to expanding margins.”

So there we have it, from the lips of the top guy, that Centene is driven by profit rather than a burning desire to care for the people of north London.

Just for good measure, Neidorff added, “I think we have a clear-cut approach to it”. And no wonder. Neidorff was paid nearly $25million last year.

We welcome the High Court challenge being brought by Islington councillor Anjna Khurana and urge everyone who believes that primary health care should be about looking after patients rather than enriching huge American corporations and their CEOs to get behind and support the campaign.

See: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-our-gp-practices-being-sold-off-to-centene/

DAVID BREWERTON
Islington Green Party