Government Dominated Healthcare Cannot Work

Emergency Department of the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland

I am a major proponent of The Swiss Way, meaning local control, with a weak federal government, and international neutrality. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect in Switzerland. At Swissinfo.ch, Julia Crawford asks, “Is Swiss healthcare working?” The answer is NO. The Swiss have many of the same problems Americans face. Fixing both health care systems is going to take time, and a willingness to allow maximum competition to bring prices down and eliminate bureaucratic waste. The politicians will prove not up to the task. Only Senator Rand Paul is talking about actually lowering the cost of health care today. The government dominated healthcare in Switzerland, the U.S. and most of the world, cannot work for long. Crawford writes:

The Swiss healthcare system is reputed to be one of the best in the world. But in an era where health care is a subject of debate in many countries, we ask if the Swiss system is working for those on moderate to low incomes, as well as for the rich.

The Euro health consumer index 2016 external link ranks Switzerland second out of 35 countries after The Netherlands in terms of overall indicators. It describes the system as “excellent, although expensive”. But health insurance premiums, paid to private companies, are now the second most common cause of indebtedness in Switzerland after tax, and these premiums have been rising every year.

“When I lost one of my part-time jobs, my health insurance premium suddenly accounted for 20% of my small salary and I was in financial trouble,” says François (not his real name), a 44-year-old single Swiss man with a university education, currently living in Lausanne. “Our system built on solidarity has become perverted. It is no longer for the users but for the private insurers and the pharmaceutical companies. They do what they want at our expense.”

The GOP seems intent on papering over the real problems with health care, cost, by papering over them with new entitlements. Sen. Paul explains his alternative in the video below: