The Nordic model.

in #politics5 years ago



I can't help but think that the Nordic model deserves much better advocacy in this country. Anecdotally it seems that advocates have a hard time distinguishing (perhaps for coalition reasons?) a robust welfare state combined with a free market from the indefensible hellscape of a centrally planned economy.

How hard is it for people who want America to look like Denmark or Finland to disavow Venezuela and Cuba rather than making excuses for them?

I don't get it. "We want a free market, but we also want people to have enough security that every economic decision they make isn't effectively the result of duress" is a persuasive argument.

"Nationalise Amazon, comrade" is grotesque maliciousness that calls to mind the worst government atrocities of the last century, abuses that murdered tens of millions of innocent people.

The Scandinavian economies are among the freest in the world. Venezuela and Cuba consistently register alongside failed states and totalitarian dictatorships on the same spectrum. It should be the easiest thing in the world to separate them, and to advocate for one group without apologising for the other.

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As a Dane, I must say that I cannot advocate for the implementation of the Danish welfare model in America, at least not without some serious revisions.

Would a universal one-payer system provide healthcare at an overall cheaper cost for the Federal Government compared to the current system? Perhaps in the short run, but that is also because the current American system is the worst possible mix of public and private models and I fear such a system would come at the expense of the actual service provided

Are Danish hospitals like the wrecked, dirty Venezuelan hospitals you have seen pictures of in the media? No, not by a long shot - but they are not particularly great either.

Most non-acute treatments and diagnoses have significant waiting lists and admitted patients have to contend with sharing wards with several other patients, sometimes even in beds parked in the corridors. Most hospitals are chronically understaffed, resulting in overly busy doctors and nurses and reduced care time for the individual patient. A Danish hospital even advised expecting mothers to bring their own blankets to the maternity ward as a cost-cutting measure - I am not kidding

It is not terrible as long as you are of average health and do not need to go to the hospital on a regular basis, but as soon as you are in a situation, where you need regular care and need to interact with the healthcare system on a regular basis, the numerous small issues start to compile and along with a crushingly bureaucratic and impersonal system that comes with the public healthcare system territory, you really need to have a strong psyche and a will to fight the system, or you will soon be neglected and forgotten in the giant machinery

In small societies like Denmark with a high degree of social trust, universal healthcare is not unfeasible, but it is not immune to the ailments that comes with removing market forces from the equation. Case in point, in most my working life in Denmark - even as a part-timer - my company provided me with private healthcare insurance. If companies really trusted the public system to do such a stellar job, that would not be neccessary

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