this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
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USA has one of the worst examples of health care: 17% GDP spending on health care. It's not just the most expensive private health care system, it's the most expensive health care system.
But it's also not a fully privatized health care system, or even the most privatized one. Roughly half of the insurance spending is public via Medicare, Medicaid, military, etc.
Switzerland's and Netherland's systems can be viewed as more privatized (100% of insurances are via private sector, NL almost all hospitals are private), and are way more efficient than the US system.
Looks like privatized health care + private insurance works the best, but it does seem to require some guardrails (which you might call socialism, I guess). But also devil's in the details and it's possible to do everything badly.
Feel like you're missing a ton of context for the system in the NL which I think is the most likely model for folks in the USA to accept if we were picking another healthcare model out.
Things like: there's a public fund that's paid into that covers end of life care and old age care. There's a ton of regulation and laws around how insurance companies operate and what they're allowed to bill for. There is a minimum standard of care and price ceiling all insurance companies must meet. There is a lot of oversight via the government ombudsman. There are subsidies for folks that have under x dollars to help them afford the basic plan (which all insurance companies have to follow).
Basically the competition in the private insurance marketplace in the NL is driven by trying to undercut each other's prices since there is a price ceiling for services. Other ways they can compete are better network integration, apps, ease of use, etc etc. It's also driven by the hospitals themselves and what they can offer.
Very much different than the USA.