Nordic systems are among the most social in the world. In fact, even uber-social France often look up to its neighbor from up north when it wants to review its social system – if only we could be as disciplined and socially responsible as them… but let’s not digress.

The Norwegian healthcare, in its breadth of scope and its results in lengthening Norwegian’s life expectancy, is often compared to the French Sécu. As a result, it could be perceived as yet another European universal, tax-funded, single-payer health care system.

In fact, it holds a few surprises when look under the tip of the iceberg – I know, this one was easy !

A little teaser to entice you to follow the here above link.
You will discover that the Norwegian system:

1. is very centralized administratively;
2. but its health care services are decentralized;
3. it also cover Norwegian expats for up to one year after they move abroad;

It just went live on the Lighthouse website a few weeks back, and we got good feedback from our German clients. As with many universal insurance system, overall health care expenditures rose to more than 10% of GDP in recent years. German legislators are trying hard to contain costs, and with the ever-ageing German population, they will have to double their efforts in the future.

A little teaser to entice you to follow the here above link.
You will discover that the German system:

1. is very decentralized ;
2. is the oldest universal health care system in the World;
3. lets individuals choose among the statutory funds in their region;

A little teaser to entice you to follow the here above link.
You’ll discover that the Swiss System:

1. mandates its residents to buy healthcare;
2. lets individuals choose from a choice of health plans;
3. lets management of these plans to private insurance companies;

I have to admit it was the most difficult one to summarize so far; it is the most integrated healthcare systems I’ve studied yet, its admin side is awfully messy, and its “patient” one is so dead simple it was difficult to follow the structure I set up for the previous pieces. Still, I am happy with the end result, which you can check here: British NHS.

Need a teaser like last time?
By reading it you’ll discover that the British System:

1. Is most cashless;
2. Is so good private insurances only insure 11% of britons;
3. Is much more efficient than the French or the Australian one at managing its cost

The teaser? By reading it you’ll discover that the French System:

1. Is not really public
2. Reimburses fully chronic diseases
3. Covers all France residents – even illegal ones !