What we can learn from Singapore
Townhall – John C. Goodman –
9/21/2013
Click the link to read this
entire article – ONE NATION ACTUALLY SOLVED PROBLEMS!!
In 1984, Singapore instituted a
revolutionary idea: a system of compulsory saving for medical expenses. That
was the same year my colleagues and I at the National Center
for Policy Analysis introduced the idea of Health Savings Accounts in this
country.
After almost three decades, Singapore
has now come to the attention of a lot others, including a book by Brookings,
and a whole slew of posts by bloggers.
At the risk of disappointing
you, Singapore
does not have a free market for health care. What it does have is an
alternative to the European/American welfare state, in which private saving and
private insurance do what employers and governments do in other countries. The Singapore
philosophy is:
• Each generation should pay
its own way.
• Each family should pay its
own way.
• Each individual should pay
his own way.
• Only after passing through these three filters,
should anyone turn to the government for help.
If the United States adopted a similar
approach to public policy, there would be no deficit problem in this country.
A shift from the public to
the private sector. The most important thing Singapore has accomplished in
health care (in contrast to all the other developed countries) is an enormous
shift of money and power from the government to the private sector. Since 1984,
the Singaporean government's share of the nation's total health care
expenditure dropped from
about 50% to 20%. When you stop to think about it, that's incredible.
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