I see all these wonderful lists on the internet comparing the costs and benefits of health care plans all over the world, by which is meant the degree to which standard medical care is subsidized by the central authority. In comparing the costs, I always see a per-person number, but what I wonder is this:
Are any of these plans, or the governments that sponsor them, solvent? I feel like this is an important part of the discussion. Even if we are just having a pragmatic discussion about what system appears to work best to keep people healthy or treat illness, at what price, if all of these glorious interventions are funded by the printing presses, then they might all be about to come tumbling down.
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. ... Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
The norwegian government healthcare is paid for, to some extent, by petrodollars, dividends from investments in businesses.