The Problems With Nationalized Health Care: OR "If the Grass is Greener, You Know the Water Bill is Higher"

We’ve all heard that the United States spends more (16% of GDP, or $2.10 trillion dollars) on health care than any other industrialized country.

High tax burden

However Norway, long heralded as a “shining example” of nationalized health care, has its own problems to contend with. Norway’s overall tax burden which is 45% of its GDP, ranks second only to Sweden, which has the highest tax burden among all the industrialized countries.

On any given day 280,000 Norwegians (out of a country of 4.6 million) are waiting for health care. Norway’s government has been trying to legislate these waits out of existence since 1990…unsuccessfully.

Problems of nationalized health care

While Norwegians generally report that they are “fairly satisfied” with the way their health care system is run, there has been growing discontent over such issues as:

•the ability to choose a health care provider,
•involvement in decisions regarding care or treatment,
•and waiting periods.
The average wait for hip replacement is more than 4 months.

Prostatectomy, 3 months.

Hysterectomy, over two months.

It’s estimated that 23% of all patients needing hospitalization must wait at least 3 months for admission.
This for a country ranked 11th in the world by the World Health Organization among industrialized countries. The US ranks 37th just ahead of last place Slovenia, and behind 36th place Costa Rica.

Norway at a glance and why it is a fun place to visit:

•Has the longest coastline in Europe
•Has around 50,000 islands and only 2,000 islands are inhabited
•Norway Vikings founded the world’s oldest parliament, the Lyn Wald, over 1,000 years old
•Norwegians enjoy a very healthy diet and have one of the world’s highest consumptions of fish, milk, and cheese
•Norwegian inventions include the cheese slice and the paper clip
•Norwegian per capita income ranks amongst the world’s highest

Contibutor:
Doug Gulleson is a partner of Good Neighbor Insurance. Good Neighbor Insurance represents 10 international health insurance companies and provides international health and travel insurance for every country in the world. http://www.gninsurance.com