Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Swiss Option

ZURICH — Like every other country in Europe, Switzerland guarantees health care for all its citizens. But the system here does not remotely resemble the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents of universal coverage in the United States.

Swiss private insurers are required to offer coverage to all citizens, regardless of age or medical history. And those people, in turn, are obligated to buy health insurance.

That is why many academics who have studied the Swiss health care system have pointed to this Alpine nation of about 7.5 million as a model that delivers much of what Washington is aiming to accomplish — without the contentious option of a government-run health insurance plan.
Read the rest here.

3 comments:

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Step 1: Scale America down to a racially homogenous redoubt of 7.5 million people with an average IQ of 101.

Step 2: Implement the Swiss Option.

Voila.

Ochlophobist said...

It might work in Minnesota.

Visibilium said...

The Swiss system wouldn't work a miracle in America unless it contained a feature that cut the fat off our obese bodies.

Seriously though, I don't find this talk about health care delivery satisfying. The reason is simple: the distribution of health care is less important than its manufacture.

The manufacture of health care involves bringing supply online and providing for innovation. The only thing that drives manufacture is profits. No profit, no product.

The Swiss system is simply a quaint story about the distribution of a service that piggybacks on American innovation.