Private health care comes to Sweden
Lance on Jan 29 2008 at 7:41 pm | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Health Care, Lance's Page
Why? Because people are fed up with waiting for care and a health care bureaucracy with no incentive to improve:
Waiting times for medical care in Sweden are the longest in Europe, according to the Health Consumer Powerhouse, which analyzes health-care systems in the region. About 33,000 people had been waiting more than three months for surgery or other major treatments at the end of August, an increase of 43 percent from May, a report by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions showed.
Critics of Sweden’s welfare model say there are no incentives for hospitals to improve efficiency. Oscar Hjertqvist, director of the Health Consumer Powerhouse, likens the current system to a bad restaurant getting government funding.
“In Sweden, you would get paid just to have a restaurant, but there would be no requirements that people should get any food,” said Hjertqvist, whose group has offices in Brussels and Stockholm.
The reaction of the Swedish left to people using private care?
“The new hospital for the children of the upper classes is a mockery of the most fundamental values of the Swedish system,” said Lars Ohly, leader of the Swedish Left Party. “Care should be given based on needs, not wallets.”
Of course, he doesn’t want to merely express this opinion, but deny people the right to seek alternatives to the state run system. McQ has more.
Sphere: Related Content3 Responses to “Private health care comes to Sweden”
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Won’t even slow the pace of those who wish to replicate the errors of Europe on our shores. It never ceases to astonish me that socialism still has advocates in the 21st century. Isn’t that really incredible? Like Fukuyama, I really thought this debate was over in 1991. It may be a permanent disease of the human mind.
If the following is true, it looks like England is heading the other way:
link
Thanks for the link!