Dah, if it wasn't, it would have been done by now. All countries are having problems groping with the 3 related issues of costs, quality and access. Fix one or two, and the other becomes uncontrollable and/or unacceptable. The Canadians have their way, and their system has innovation and timely access problems. The British have their way, and their system has fairness and quality problems. The US has all these problems so we certainly need to reform ours!
Because of our history, a big non-profit social transformation to a Canadian type system will be a stretch. If done right, it should yield better results than what we have now. However given the reality of private insurance and some need for supply and demand side competition under US capitalism, we could learn from the Netherland. They have gone through a similar evolution using private insurance models, and are now light years ahead of the US on the path we will likely follow. If this is true, then studying the Netherland's medical model should benefit us greatly to avoid errors that have already been made over there.
Thanks to the publication Health Affairs, we now have a few weeks free access to a GREAT piece about the Dutch system. I am not necessarily advocating this system, but am just saying that we seem to be going down this road so let's look at it. Here is the LINK to the free article, at least for a while and the abstract. Read carefully and understand!
Universal Mandatory Health Insurance In The Netherlands: A Model For The United States?
Wynand P.M.M. van de Ven and Frederik T. Schut
Abstract
Policy analysts consider the Netherlands health system a possible model for the United States. Since 2006 all Dutch citizens have to buy standardized individual health insurance coverage from a private insurer. Consumers have an annual choice among insurers, and insurers can selectively contract or integrate with health care providers. Subsidies make health insurance affordable for everyone. A Risk Equalization Fund compensates insurers for enrollees with predictably high medical expenses. The reform is a work in progress. So far the emphasis has been on the health insurance market. The challenge is now to successfully reform the market for the provision of health care.