The Norwegian Healthcare Paradox

Healthcare is one of the most partisan and controversial debates in the 21st century, so I would like to draw your attention to what is best described as the Norwegian Healthcare Paradox.

In beginning of the 20th century Nationalized/Socialized healthcare was lauded as scientific and sociologically sound state policy to improve the nation health, care for the poor and create incentives for citizens to make more offspring thereby ensuring the continued stream of healthy workers and soldiers to promote the state.

Whatever the intentions of these programs, be they progressive, fascist, socialist or liberal it is today a social right to have access to healthcare as the constitution of the WHO dictates; "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health".

But how can the highest standard of health be achieved?
The answer has for many decades been the Norwegian healthcare model which consistantly ranks in the top three according to the UN.

But in recent decades outside the mainstream propaganda the Norwegian model has run into trouble similar to the policies of Keynesian economics, as the market policies result in stagflation meaning increase in spending yet higher unemployment so too does the healthcare system result in stagflation as well with higher cost and decreased capacity.

This is the Norwegian Healthcare Paradox.

I would like to list the following examples of data to present this phenomenon as a fact.

• The expenditures of Norwegian healthcare cost has quadrupled in the last 30 years, and was in 2003 10% of total GNP.
• The price for each person in the healthcare system has increased by 70% in the last 30 years. After inflation.
• The National Health Care patient bed capacity has decreased 67% in the last 25 years from 21000 to 14200 capacity. 
•  In 1965 there were one doctor for 940 people, in 2000 there were one doctor for 295 people. Yet the number of patients that has waited above 6 months for treatment was in 1995 over 95000 patients and in 2010 it had risen to over 260,000 patients.
• In 2010 Norwegian workers rank the highest in Europe in sick days and sickness related absence.

In the best Nationalized Healthcare system in the world we see decline in capacity and quality over time despite massive increase in spending.

Since more spending does not equal more capacity and quality the politicians are unable to fix the problem and the media is doing the best to hide it, which is why they even launched a new show called "På liv og død/On life and death" propagandizing the system at the same time as dismissing and hiding the important fact of the Norwegian healthcare paradox.

As Carl I. Hagen former chairman of the Norwegian Progress Party pointed out in his book "Klar Tale" the biggest increase in healthcare cost lies not with the elders in the growing elderwave, but with youths from 16-26 year old. This presents a new unforseen problem for the healthcare state, not only are citizen not reproducing fast enough to cover the elder wave expenditure, but youths are exploiting the system faster than the elders which is creating an overload in demand at a time increased spending leads to lower capacity.

If the challenge of this paradox is not addressed it will only get worse, it remains to be seen if the new conservative government will dance to the tune of ignorance is bliss and watch the TV show like the rest of norwegians public or take responsibility and begin reforming the system. And the question remains what reforms works? Denmark and Sweden has turned to private alternatives out of necessity, Norway has so far been able to live in ignorance thanks to oil revenue.

 Sources: 

Knut Halvorsen, Grunnbok I Helse- og Sosialpolitikk, 2005 
Statistisk Sentral Byrå