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Launch of the EuroHealth Consumer Index
Around 100 guests visited the launch in Brussels of the EuroHealth Consumer Index 2005, including health experts, patient organisations and representatives from many of the countries in the index.
Johan Hjertqvist, president and founder of HCP, began with a vision of the near future. A Europe where half of the population has a chronic disease, vaccinations against nicotine are possible and millions of "snowbirds" in the Mediterranean won't have the same kind of healthcare system as today. Mr Hjertqvist predicted that this shift wouldn't come through a big reform, but through many small changes.
Dr. Arne Björnberg introduced the Index and illuminated the dramatic differences between the 12 healthcare systems. Waiting times for treatment were almost non-existent in countries as France, Belgium and Switzerland while they were a major problem in countries as Sweden and Great Britain.
One impressive feat was the reform speed of Estonia. In just 14 years the country has transformed from a Soviet commando system to a modern consumer-driven healthcare system.
After the summit, the Index was also thoroughly covered in most of the press in the countries included.
European Health Consumer Index
Revolution in Canada
Yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada ruled aginst the national health system, a cornerstone of Canadian identity.
This system prohibits private insurance when public services are already available. But in reality the public access is poor, found the Court, causing long waiting times and other problems. Formally the verdict affects conditions only in the Quebec province but as there are similar waiting times in numerous other provinces the whole public system is now under heavy fire. Read more at the website of Frontier Center, a partner of the Powerhouse.
The Swedish Health Consumer Index: Impact on media, policy discussion
A high degree of activity after our launch 2005 shows that the councils now are starting to view The Swedish Health Consumer Index as quite important. The reasoning behind the ranking system is starting to register on the mental radar of the county councils. The consumer point of view on healthcare can not longer be ignored by politicians, civil servants or media.
A personal comment on the French NO
HCP has the last month made a survey in several EU countries on the subject of healthcare information. It was hard to get anyone to answer questions in France. Mostly people hang up before we had the chance to explain the purpose of the survey with the motivation that they had already decided to vote NO. And now it's all over the news. The NO. Not from the usual suspects up north but from France.
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