Nice architecture, terrible economy.
With horror story after horror story coming out of Great Britain and Canada, some progressives have turned to France as their example of a good system; The New York Times recently published a positive article about it.
But how are they really doing?
Guy Sorman, writing in City Journal, reminds us of the economic consequences of a large role for government in health care.
Economists agree that unemployment rates and the cost of national health insurance are directly related everywhere, which partly explains why even in periods of economic growth, the average French unemployment rate hovers around 10 percent.
High as they are, taxes on wages are not enough to cover the constant deficits that national health insurance runs. France imposes an additional levy to try to close the insurance deficit—the CSG (contribution sociale généralisée)—which applies to all income, including dividends, and which Parliament increases every year. Altogether, 25 percent of French national income goes toward what’s called Social Security, which includes health care and basic retirement pensions for all.
As Janet Nielsen from Michigan Health Facts writes, "Persistently high unemployment? Where do we sign up?"
As Investor Business Daily wrote recently:
David Gratzer, a physician and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote in the summer 2007 issue of City Journal: "In France, the supply of doctors is so limited that during an August 2003 heat wave — when many doctors were on vacation and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity — 15,000 elderly citizens died."
To be fair, the French parliament issued a "harshly-worded" report in response. But come on, 15 THOUSAND people died from a heat wave? It's hard to imagine that Americans want to head in that direction.
Comments
How can anyone possibly blame the French Health Care system for the Death of these people? Should Doctors and Nurses be going around door to door checking on the entire population?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
Elderly people die in the US during similar heat waves. Is this the fault of the American health care system?
The main problem with the french Health care system, is that they grossly underpay their doctors ( average 55,000/year ). American Doctors would never accept this.
If you read about the heat wave, people weren't dying in their homes; they were dying in hospitals and waiting in line. The US has never had something like that, despite temperatures and heat waves that have been much worse.
You're right, doctors are terribly underpaid. You'd almost think there's a correlation between government health care and lesser paid doctors...
According to Wiki "most of the heat victims came from the group of elderly persons not requiring constant medical care and living alone without immediate family".
You're so wrong ! France is a place to live, where you can have good social cares. It's the choice of french society, even if it's not working all the time.
Actually there are many benefits to French health care. Maybe if you lived here you would see. Until then, better to shut up and listen to experts. scoop44.com/author/michael_barrett/
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