Quote Originally Posted by Thondalar View Post
Really? A decentralized Healthcare system where decisions are handled locally is something that appeals to you? Hell, me too. Just surprised to hear you say it.

About 27% of Denmark citizens have private health insurance...the rest are covered by either Group 1 or Group 2.

Group 1, which is what most citizens have that aren't covered privately, has very tight restrictions on what care you can receive. You have to pick 1 family doctor and can't see anyone else, and can't see a specialist about anything unless referred by that doctor. Care is subsidized, but not free...besides the much higher general tax rate, you still have quite a bit of out-of-pocket expenses, depending on what services you receive.

Group 2 has a higher rate of contribution, but you can pick any doctor you want, and see any specialist without a referral. However, you generally have more out-of-pocket expenses than group 1.

It's a much more streamlined system than Obamacare, with a lot less overhead and needless complications. I find it interesting that they can pull this off using only 9.8% of their GDP, while the US uses over 17%. I'm sure they save quite a lot of money with the decentralized nature of their system, but they're also one of the top countries in the world for using technology to simplify the process...almost all doctors use electronic medical records and electronic prescribing. Another interesting tidbit is that the average doctor in Denmark makes about $108,000/year, compared to about $160,000/year for American doctors...broken down even further, the average "specialist" in Denmark makes only 91k/year, compared to over 230k/year in the US. Expressed in a ratio to per capita GDP, we spend almost twice as much on specialist here as they do in Denmark.

Before we go screaming about evil capitalist hospitals charging exorbitant amounts just because they can...I found it interesting that only 18% of American hospitals are for-profit organizations. While this might add a bit to the overall average, I really don't think it's bringing it up that much.
You know a lot more about Danish healthcare than I do and it was an interesting read. I thought they were just a totally socialized system.

I had a question about this: "It's a much more streamlined system than Obamacare, with a lot less overhead and needless complications."

Obamacare isn't a system at all. It's just private health insurance.