Letters Health Care Systems, Lost in Translation Published: June 22, 2013 To the Editor: Robert Frank’s ideas about the exportability of Swedish health care to the United States are fine, from an economist’s perspective (“What Sweden Can Tell Us About Obamacare,” Economic View, June 16). But they are not plausible politically. Health policies in Sweden and in most Western countries reflect rational approaches to a collective problem affecting society. These require a political culture of collaboration over political partisanship. The political culture of the United States, however, rewards partisan distinctions and increasingly penalizes cooperation and precludes collaboration. So does the adversarial style that characterizes relationships between providers and public interest groups speaking for consumers. Obamacare doesn’t make much of a dent in the problem because it puts providers’ interests ahead of economic rationality and a comprehensive approach to society’s needs. This is particularly evident in continuing fee-for-service incentives and a failure to effect serious cost containment. As a political scientist often skeptical of economists’ approaches, I surprise myself by wishing that the views of Professor Frank and his economist colleagues could prevail. But, alas, that is not likely in my grandchildren’s lifetime. MARTIN O. HEISLER, PH.D. Lake Oswego, Ore., June 16 The writer is a professor emeritus in the department of government and politics at the University of Maryland. To the Editor: Robert Frank extols the health of the health care system in Sweden — run by the government as part of the cradle-to-grave panacea created there many years ago. But there are two glaring omissions. The column doesn’t mention the much higher income tax rates that Swedes pay their government, or the fact that Sweden is a small country with a mostly homogeneous population, while the United States has many large, sprawling cities and a more multicultural population. What Sweden is really telling us is that if you raise tax rates high enough and add a value-added tax to your economy, health care will work out just fine for all. And everyone knows how efficient our government would be in running a gigantic health care system. MATILDA DUMBRILL Orange, Conn.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 05:39:21 +0000
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