A few days ago Wintery Knight highlighted how Sweden is turning to capitalism as government money runs out. The Swedes are increasingly embracing capitalism as they realize the failures of socialism.
Today The New American pointed out how the Swedes are turning to the free market when it comes to their health care. (H/T iOwnTheWorld) They’ve had socialized medicine, and they don’t like it all that much. Those with the means to do so are purchasing private health insurance, even though the taxpayer funded option is available.
As Americans are being herded down the road to socialized medicine, many Swedes, fed up with just such a healthcare system, are choosing precisely the opposite path. According to the Swedish edition of The Local, an English-language European news site, hundreds of thousands of Swedes, nominally entitled to “free” taxpayer-funded healthcare, are opting to pay extra for private health insurance in an effort to obtain the speedy, high-quality care they are being denied by the public system.
The exact number of Swedes covered by private insurance is a bit difficult to ascertain, but it is at least half a million and possibly close to one million — and growing rapidly. This is a significant number in a country of around 9.6 million people, roughly as many as the Chicago metro area. In 2011, The Local reported that “private healthcare insurance plans have grown a whopping 400 percent in a decade.” (Read More)
There’s much more at the link, including how bad things were getting under the socialized healthcare system. We’re talking year-long wait times for cancer treatment. For some that could be a death sentence. Doctors were told to prioritize patients based on their value to society, and many conditions were deemed non-life threatening and therefore not covered. It sounds like our future under Obamacare.
Why is it so many Americans just refuse to learn from the failures of others? Why do we have to go down this path when it’s been proven time and again that it doesn’t work? I know, I know, it’s the media. It’s the schools that fail to teach the treachery of communism and socialism. It’s the politicians promising utopia. And it’s just so maddening.
Hopefully enough Americans have woken up thanks to the disaster known as Obamacare to begin to set things right this November. But even if the Democrats are obliterated at the polls, which in no way is a given, it’s going to take a long time to correct things. We have quite a few weak-willed and/or progressive Republicans to deal with, plus Obama will still have two years left to rule by decree. So expect things to get worse before they get better.
Oh, and in case you missed the latest on socialized health care, read about how elderly British patients are aren’t treated if they’re diagnosed with cancer.