Sweden: The ABBA of Healthcare
We’re heard a lot about the UK and France. What about Sweden?
In my home of Sweden, for instance, patients in need of heart surgery often wait as long as 25 weeks, and the average wait for hip replacement is more than a year. Some patients have even been sent to veterinarians for treatment, and many Swedes now go to neighboring countries for dental care, despite having paid taxes for “free” dental coverage.
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Only with an infinite supply of health care funding can government dole out an infinite supply of health care services, so waiting lists are a natural consequence of state-sponsored coverage.
And what about the rest of Europe?
Meanwhile across Europe, efficiency in health care has plummeted. Whereas private-sector competitors have an incentive to adapt new technologies and reorganize, state-sponsored monopolies have no profit motive driving them to seek greater efficiency. So the taxpayers get less and less for their money.
In 1975, for instance, most Swedish doctors averaged nine consultations per day. Today, that number has plummeted to four. Much of this drop is the result of burdensome administrative tasks, as doctors now devote 80 percent of their time to paperwork. Needless to say, this greatly impacts the availability of care.
Doctors and health care staff across Europe also receive far less in pay than U.S. medical staff, as salaries are paid by the state and therefore used as a tool to cut costs. As a result, the United States attracts the world’s most competent doctors.
Further, European governments ration drugs to cut costs. Between 1998 and 2002, for instance, 85 new drugs were introduced in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, there were only 44 new drug launches in Europe.
In other words, European governments haven’t figured out a way to deliver health care for less money — they’ve simply figured out a way to ration care.
Ration care. Hmmm, where have I heard that concept before? Why, it sounds like a huge HMO, doesn’t it? But don’t worry. The Europeans have found a novel solution to their healthcare woes: capitalism.
nterestingly, as U.S. policy-makers and presidential candidates propose more government involvement with the U.S. health care system, Sweden and other European countries are slowly moving away from their leviathan states.
In many nations, competition from health care entrepreneurs is now allowed. And consequently, an increasing number of people are buying private health insurance and receiving treatment at private clinics. In Sweden, the government is making it easier to start health care companies and is even set to start selling public hospitals.
America’s health care system is far from perfect. But when compared with Europe’s centrally planned monopolies, it is far better equipped to deliver the medicine its citizens need.
Just what we’ve been saying all along.
Comments
And they deserve to get more money because what they do requires not only a college degree, but hours of working your way up in a system that requires very delicate care. Not to mention if someone under their knife “expires” there’s no telling how much he’s going to have to dump into the malpractice lawsuit he’ll be facing from the family of the patient.As a result, the United States attracts the world’s most competent doctors.
Because capitalism is the driving force of people these days. Yes, we do have the best doctors, because we know that they want money for their services. We know that the scientists that come up with the drugs want to be paid, we understand that in order to have prompt, trustworthy, and near hassle free service, you have to have money.America’s health care system is far from perfect. But when compared with Europe’s centrally planned monopolies, it is far better equipped to deliver the medicine its citizens need.
To me ration care, sounds like socialism.Ration care. Hmmm, where have I heard that concept before? Why, it sounds like a huge HMO, doesn’t it?
Don’t be too quick to take what this guy says at face value. He uses lots of numbers, but I don’t see any sources for any of his statistics.
I always find it odd that denizens of good countries who have 100% free and unfettered access to prime health care 24/7 would be so gravely ill all the time. Could it be they oft take it for granted?
When I was living there Germany tried introducung quasi mandatory dental checkups every six months, i.e. if you didn’t let a dentist catch and treat it in its early stages, but instead let a cavity grow until your entire mouth rotted out, expecting free dentures, you had another thing coming - namely a bill for your deliberate negligence.
Granted, some people just have bad teeth or knees, which is why I wonder if this idea ever got enforced much.
Theoretically this practice would keep all doctors’ offices full all the time.
WittFan, did you see any of moore’s sources for the moorewatch portion of Sicko? If you haven’t, check JimK’s timeline on the front page of moorewatch.
to be fair, WittFan has a point. The arguement is interesting, but I’d like to know the source for some of those claims. Every arguement should be held of that same standard of having verifiable numbers from a credible source.
And what about others?
There are a lot of different countries with Universal HealthCare systems, and so lot of differents approach of Universal health care.
That’d be interesting to get a comparison between some of them, like Canada, UK, Germany, France...etc.
Of course the countries chosen for the comparison should be chosen arbitrarily so that the choice don’t get influenced by a criteria (like choosing only the systems which are known to have big solvency issues). So that the comparison is not biased.
Apparently, from what I read, Canadian are happy with there system, which seems to work ok. That’d be nice to have an unbiased report from this site about the Canadian system.
So, the objective now is the discredit of all HC systems but US HC system.
There are some interesting numbers about this issue. From the moment that Europe started to import the newliberalist ideas from US, European well-being started to fall: as less social expenses, less HC for working class, less family helps, and less working rates (as women do not have any help at home, and cannot have a job),…
Importing US habits is our social cruse.
So, the objective now is the discredit of all HC systems but US HC system.
Only if you’re a moronic idiot without the ability to understand that criticizing something doesn’t mean that every other option is better, or that ANY option is perfect.
There has been MUCH criticism of the current state of US healthcare at this site, and if you’re too much of an asshole to admit that, I fail to see why anyone should ever bother responding to you ever again.
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You know what’s really sad? . . . this is exactly the direction U.S. tax-funded Medicare is headed.