[itmag]

I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge for the individual citizen (ie even in Scandinavia we do pay for health care, so it's not 100% free like some people believe, but the cost is predictable and it can't ever get sky-high like in the US).

I think one downside to it is that it's hard to do anything out of the ordinary (ie some new drug or method or whatever) because health care is seen as a standardized gov't service. For customization, you still need privatized medicine.

Or am I wrong on this? I don't have a lot of insight into the health care system, honestly.

[_delirium]

One possibility is France's mixed approach, where everyone is automatically enrolled in the standardized government service, but those who prefer can instead pay for a private-sector doctor to provide service customized however they wish (within legal limits for things like drug approval).

[itmag]

I tend to think that socialized medicine is a great cost hedge

Of course, for this to work, there has to be a lot, possibly the majority, of super-payers who pay more into the health care system via their taxes than they receive back.

So, Scandi style health care can in a way be seen as a government-enforced mandatory health insurance, except that unemployed people get it for (almost) free.

Then again, a huge socialized health care system might have better economies of scale (or they might be worse). Also, let's not forget that people can go to medical school for free in Scandinavia, which is bound to have some kind of effect.

[georgemcbay]

"Of course, for this to work, there has to be a lot, possibly the majority, of super-payers who pay more into the health care system via their taxes than they receive back."

Yes... but, this is also true for for-profit non-socialized health care insurance.