25) The Netherlands Could be a Model for the U.S.

Title: Universal Mandatory Health Insurance in the Netherlands: A Model for the United States?

Summary: A Health Affairs article that argues that the Netherlands health care system is a good model for U.S. reform. The belief is that the transition to a system such as the Netherlands’ would be much less strenuous than a switch to a single-payer system.

Topic: Should the Obama administration attempt to  convert the United States to a single-payer health care system?
Category: Academic Research

What is it? An academic journal regarding health policy thought and research.
Publication Information: June 2008
Author: Wynand Van de Ven and Frederik Schut
Location: http://0-web.ebscohost.com.janus.uoregon.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=108&sid=5f3120a5-c32c-42b1-8982-1ae550d4df69%40sessionmgr102
Accessed: Feb. 26, 2009

Support:
Health Affairs, Academic Journal
R.B. Scotton, wrote “National Health Insurance in Australia: New Concepts and New Applications.”
J.K. Helderman, wrote “Market-Oriented Health Care Reforms and Policy Learning in the Netherlands.”
A.C. Enthoven, wrote “Consumer-Choice Health Plan: A National-Health-Insurance Proposal Based on Regulated Competition in the Private Sector.”
The Health Affairs academic journal is a peer-reviewed publication that writes on health policy and research. Health Affairs puts out a bi-monthly publication, and the authors usually consist of top scholars, policymakers, and health care industry leaders. The journal was first published in 1981, and is now considered well-respected in the medical community. R.B. Scotton, J.K. Helderman, and A.C. Enthoven are three authors that are referenced in this particular article.

Audience and Agenda:
The Health Affairs academic journal has over 10,000 subscribers that read throughout the world. The journal’s website, healthaffairs.org, carries an audience of approximately 22,000 people. The vast majority of viewers work in the health care field, or carry great interest in its news and operations. Health Affairs is published and copyrighted by Project HOPE, which is an organization that helps provide health care to impoverished areas.

Usefulness:
The Netherlands health care system went through three large reforms between 1940 and 2000: universal coverage, cost-containment through the government, and efficiency through managed competition. Single-payer systems completely eliminate insurance companies, but the Netherlands system leaves insurance companies intact on the condition that they follow government regulations. Government regulations force the insurance companies force to accept citizens regardless of “pre-existing conditions.” In the Netherlands there is a federal mandate that everyone must purchase insurance – children are covered from birth until they are 18 – which is based off of their income, and the government pays for insurance  for the poor. The Netherlands may not have the “best” system, but many say that it would be a much easier transition-template for the U.S. to follow (compared to that of a single-payer system). However, the article does acknowledge that even though there is a mandate that all citizens purchase insurance, 1.5% of the population still does not purchase it; so they are penalized by paying high medical costs when they go to receive health care. It’s worth noting that the World Health Organization currently ranks the Netherlands health care system 17th overall in the world.

Works cited:
Google Scholar
Health Affairs – healthaffairs.org
Project HOPE – projhope.org
wikipedia.org
quantcast.com
EBSCOhost

For other Academic Research posts, check out…
16) National Health Insurance
18) The Argument of Justice
22) Is Single-Payer Not the Answer?
30) Is Health Care Reform Just “Talk?”

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