It wasn’t more than a few years ago that proponents of healthcare reform would point out that the United States was the only developed nation without a universal healthcare system. Right-wing electoral victories and several IMF interventions later, a number of European nations have joined the United States on the list of developed nations that base healthcare access on ability to pay rather than need.
The most unforgiving attack on universal healthcare has been felt in Greece, where democratic norms have been suspended to accommodate the demands of international creditors. Current healthcare spending in Greece is . As the austerity program shuts public hospital wards and clinics, Greek citizens in need of medical assistance only have the private healthcare system to turn to. With pensions slashed and a staggering unemployment rate of 21%, this simply isn’t an option, and families are left seeking out charity health services that would otherwise be assisting those in need in the developing world.
This story of decimated healthcare services is being repeated with varying degrees of severity across Europe. In Portugal, the IMF and European Union have demanded increased fees for public healthcare, which has priced an increasing number of Portuguese out of those services, especially considering the widespread wage cuts. In Spain and the UK, right-wing governments have taken upon themselves the task of gutting their healthcare systems. The Spanish People’s Party is initiating a nationwide program to cut healthcare spending and subsidies for the elderly while here in Britain the Tories are slashing NHS staff numbers.
This assault on public healthcare places Europe on a trajectory toward the model currently maintained by the United States. Whether it’s the UK, Portugal, Greece or Spain, weakening public healthcare sets the stage for such services to be filled by the private sector. With significant NHS staff cuts, users will rightfully complain about its reduced quality. To this, the free-market fundamentalists in British government will provide a false cure in the form of privatisations.
The sad irony is that in this age of austerity and proverbial belt-tightening, Europe is in the process of shedding the relatively inexpensive public healthcare model for the overpriced American model. The US spends nearly 40% more on health care than its GDP would predict, with 85% of this linked to the private insurance system the country employs. This figure should be no surprise. Private insurance companies post profits in the billions, while civil servants in Europe merely demand a living wage and a respectable pension.
But this profit extracted from America’s failing healthcare system is the very motivation to slowly advance the U.S. model in Europe. With functional public healthcare systems in Europe, these crucial social services are closed to market exploitation. Dismantle them and suddenly a public good is a commodity ripe for market speculation. But it’s difficult for right-wing politicians in Europe to dismantle healthcare systems that have serviced the public for decades. These systems must first be attacked at their foundation, reducing quality of service before the whole edifice can be brought down in favor of a for-profit model.
Those who cherish their public healthcare systems in Europe must not be reduced to inaction by claims that the reforms are modest. True reform would entail the improvement of service, a feat hardly achieved with fewer nurses, doctors and facilities. Instead, the drive in Europe is to leave public healthcare mutilated and deformed. At this moment, public healthcare is in the emergency room. It has already suffered repeated wounds from austerity-wielding politicians; left any longer in their hands, there is little chance universal healthcare can avoid the morgue.
By David Ferreria – igualitarista.wordpress.com