For-profit players have a place in universal healthcare systems: Canadian study
In a study of healthcare systems in six developed nations that could have implications for the U.S.—regardless of the ultimate fate of troubled Obamacare—an influential Canadian think tank has concluded that for-profit hospitals and insurers can survive and thrive under universal health care.
Analysts from the Fraser Institute looked at such systems in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
They found that each of these countries spends a proportion of their GDP on health comparable to what Canada lays out, and each provides care of quality as good as—or, in cases, better than—Canada’s.
Fraser released the study Nov. 24, noting a grab-bag of options as regards for-profit health insurance. For example, in the Netherlands, residents must purchase universal health insurance for core healthcare services from a private insurer, including for-profit companies. In Australia and Sweden, for-profit companies offer a private option alongside the public option.
As for provider institutions, approximately 42 percent of Germany’s 3,229 hospitals are for-profit, more than half the hospitals in Switzerland operate on a for-profit basis, and, in France, about 40 percent are for-profit care centers.
A 2013 poll commissioned for the Fraser Institute found that “Canadians believe strongly that private for-profit health care is incompatible with Medicare.”
Meanwhile, in reporting on the study, CTV News noted that, in a 2012 poll conducted by another organization, 80 percent of Canadians said they preferred a not-for-profit healthcare model when offered the choice—yet some 53 percent liked a mixed model when presented with this third way.
Nadeem Esmail, Fraser Institute senior fellow and study co-author, told CTV News that many developed countries have a mixed model and are still able to deliver high-quality care that is superior to Canada’s “in timeliness, accessibility and outcomes despite similar or lower health expenditures.”
To access the full study plus accompanying materials, click here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.