The European Tribune is a forum for thoughtful dialogue of European and international issues. You are invited to post comments and your own articles.
Please REGISTER to post.
Universal basic health care is also affordable. A country need not wait to be rich before it can have comprehensive, if rudimentary, treatment. Health care is a labour-intensive industry, and community health workers, paid relatively little compared with doctors and nurses, can make a big difference in poor countries. There is also already a lot of spending on health in poor countries, but it is often inefficient. In India and Nigeria, for example, more than 60% of health spending is through out-of-pocket payments. More services could be provided if that money--and the risk of falling ill--were pooled. The evidence for the feasibility of universal health care goes beyond theories jotted on the back of prescription pads. It is supported by several pioneering examples. Chile and Costa Rica spend about an eighth of what America does per person on health and have similar life expectancies. Thailand spends $220 per person a year on health, and yet has outcomes nearly as good as in the OECD. Its rate of deaths related to pregnancy, for example, is just over half that of African-American mothers. Rwanda has introduced ultrabasic health insurance for more than 90% of its people; infant mortality has fallen from 120 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to under 30 last year. And universal health care is practical. It is a way to prevent free-riders from passing on the costs of not being covered to others, for example by clogging up emergency rooms or by spreading contagious diseases. It does not have to mean big government. Private insurers and providers can still play an important role.
The evidence for the feasibility of universal health care goes beyond theories jotted on the back of prescription pads. It is supported by several pioneering examples. Chile and Costa Rica spend about an eighth of what America does per person on health and have similar life expectancies. Thailand spends $220 per person a year on health, and yet has outcomes nearly as good as in the OECD. Its rate of deaths related to pregnancy, for example, is just over half that of African-American mothers. Rwanda has introduced ultrabasic health insurance for more than 90% of its people; infant mortality has fallen from 120 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to under 30 last year.
And universal health care is practical. It is a way to prevent free-riders from passing on the costs of not being covered to others, for example by clogging up emergency rooms or by spreading contagious diseases. It does not have to mean big government. Private insurers and providers can still play an important role.
When The Economist writes sensible things twice in a row, is it time to start worrying?
GPO Prospitalia SWOT presentation: The Present and Future Role of Group Purchasing Organization in Europe
What's more, U. S. drug shortages have had a global domino effect. Sick people in rich and poor countries alike, from Australia to Zambia, are suffering from shortages of many of the same drugs that are scarce in the U. S.
by gmoke - Apr 22
by Oui - Apr 221 comment
by Oui - Apr 22
by Oui - Apr 2110 comments
by Oui - Apr 21
by Oui - Apr 20
by Oui - Apr 192 comments
by Oui - Apr 197 comments
by Oui - Apr 18
by Oui - Apr 17
by Oui - Apr 162 comments
by Oui - Apr 1618 comments
by Oui - Apr 156 comments
by Oui - Apr 14
by Oui - Apr 145 comments
by Oui - Apr 131 comment
by Oui - Apr 124 comments
by Oui - Apr 112 comments
by Oui - Apr 10
by Oui - Apr 93 comments