Turning Into Sweden Wouldn"t Be So Bad With Regard to Public Health Issues
Early in my career, before public health issues became my focus, I represented the United States abroad as a US Foreign Service officer.
My first posting took me to the US Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
I learned the Swedish language, fell in love, and seriously considered staying there for the rest of my life.
Once, during my time in Stockholm, I needed medical attention.
I forget why.
I went to the local government-run clinic to see a doctor.
After the examination, I offered to pay for my care.
In response, the woman at the front desk shook her head to tell me no payment was due and bed me a friendly goodbye.
Pleased and puzzled, I walked out the clinic door into the dim silvery light of a Swedish fall day, my wallet untouched.
It didn't matter that I wasn't a Swedish citizen.
I was a human being.
I needed medical care and I got it.
Case closed.
In Sweden, nobody worried about health care.
Nobody stayed at a job they hated to keep their coverage, because the Swedish government treats health care as a basic human right.
It's provided by the government, much as clean water is provided by the government.
No one is ever denied health care coverage on account of a preexisting condition or for any other reason.
Each Swede has health care coverage from the moment she is born until she draws her last breath.
This national, one-payer approach to providing each person with a full set of public health services is also at work in the great majority of industrialized and developing nations.
Many public health advocates, including myself, would have favored it as the health care policy in the US but it didn't happen.
Interestingly, the United States did formally acknowledge that access to health care is a basic human right decades ago but our public policies have never supported this idea.
It did so when it joined 47 other countries in signing The Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, around the time that the United Nations was created.
When public health issues centering around health care reform, and the attempt to bring adequate coverage to all Americans, took center stage early in President Obama's first term, I marveled at the ignorant commentators who railed against the awful prospect of the USA "turning into Sweden.
" All I could think was that we should be so lucky! Not only do Swedes have excellent health care for all, they are among the most literate people on earth.
During my time there, I observed that Swedes tend toward quiet reflection and respectful interactions with one another.
The use of "Sweden" and "socialist" as epithets reflects an uninformed, knee jerk reaction that bypasses any serious thought whatsoever.
Such usage reflects no thoughtful consideration of on our own country's handling of public health issues in comparison to the way other countries approach their own top public health issues and challenges.
My first posting took me to the US Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
I learned the Swedish language, fell in love, and seriously considered staying there for the rest of my life.
Once, during my time in Stockholm, I needed medical attention.
I forget why.
I went to the local government-run clinic to see a doctor.
After the examination, I offered to pay for my care.
In response, the woman at the front desk shook her head to tell me no payment was due and bed me a friendly goodbye.
Pleased and puzzled, I walked out the clinic door into the dim silvery light of a Swedish fall day, my wallet untouched.
It didn't matter that I wasn't a Swedish citizen.
I was a human being.
I needed medical care and I got it.
Case closed.
In Sweden, nobody worried about health care.
Nobody stayed at a job they hated to keep their coverage, because the Swedish government treats health care as a basic human right.
It's provided by the government, much as clean water is provided by the government.
No one is ever denied health care coverage on account of a preexisting condition or for any other reason.
Each Swede has health care coverage from the moment she is born until she draws her last breath.
This national, one-payer approach to providing each person with a full set of public health services is also at work in the great majority of industrialized and developing nations.
Many public health advocates, including myself, would have favored it as the health care policy in the US but it didn't happen.
Interestingly, the United States did formally acknowledge that access to health care is a basic human right decades ago but our public policies have never supported this idea.
It did so when it joined 47 other countries in signing The Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, around the time that the United Nations was created.
When public health issues centering around health care reform, and the attempt to bring adequate coverage to all Americans, took center stage early in President Obama's first term, I marveled at the ignorant commentators who railed against the awful prospect of the USA "turning into Sweden.
" All I could think was that we should be so lucky! Not only do Swedes have excellent health care for all, they are among the most literate people on earth.
During my time there, I observed that Swedes tend toward quiet reflection and respectful interactions with one another.
The use of "Sweden" and "socialist" as epithets reflects an uninformed, knee jerk reaction that bypasses any serious thought whatsoever.
Such usage reflects no thoughtful consideration of on our own country's handling of public health issues in comparison to the way other countries approach their own top public health issues and challenges.