Charlie Self wrote in news:be72f460-5295-4821-
:

Say what? Free drugs?

There is another way than the American way, apparently. I left Holland
almost 40 years ago, so my personal experiences don't really count, but
the Dutch have a "new" healthcare system: Government mandated health
insurance, paid for by the subscribers in some sort of income-adjusted
fashion. It apparently has very high compliance by the subscribers, and
is a work in progress. There are descriptions in the current issue (Dec
13 2007) of the New England Journal of Medicine. One of the 2 articles
on the subject is he
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/357/24/2421.pdf

Of course, the language of the NEJM isn't exactly geared to the average
man/woman, but possibly you can get the gist of it. Keep in mind that
taxes in Holland are higher than here. Moreover, the Dutch are trying to
"wean" themselves off of a rather extreme welfare state (financed in the
60-70's by the sale of government-owned natural gas). The Dutch seem
convinced that they like that "welfare state", but now realize that they
have to pay for it, AND they are willing to do so.

--
Best regards
Han
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