BrianGarst.com

I’ve written before about Canadians having to turn to the private sector in order to receive timely and quality healthcare, despite supposedly having “universal” coverage. Similarly, most Medicare recipients in the U.S. have supplemental plans, despite the almost $600 billion spent on the program in 2013.

Now it turns out that Sweden, much celebrated for its generous welfare, is seeing growth in private plans due to the long lines – including year-long waits for cancer patients – and inadequate care provided by government:

Sweden, a country famous for a welfare state that has actually been trimmed back substantially in recent years, is experiencing a phenomenon unlikely to bring cheer to those Americans who think the answer to Obamacare’s problems is more government involvement in medicine. Tired of long waits and inadequate care, Swedes increasingly purchase private health insurance policies to gain access to the care the state can’t provide.

Proponents of government-run healthcare routinely point to other nations as proof that central planning can work. But merely pointing to a system that has not yet collapsed is not the same as proving that it can sustain itself. What we are increasingly seeing is that so-called universal healthcare is self-defeating, but its inherent faults sometimes take time to fully metastasize.