With the increase in healthcare subsidies after WWII, an entire industry tied to the production of the supplies needed for hospitals emerges–from bed linens, mops and sheets, to x-ray machines and paper, catheters, and artificial kidneys and skin.

As this industry grows, it develops its own lobbyists, marketing, and strategies for profit. Significant public funds–through Medicaid and Medicare–are directed towards subsidizing these for-profit healthcare companies whose supplies support the systems where care is given.