Iceland review - 2016, Page 63

ICELAND REVIEW 61
PUBLIC OUTCRY
Icelanders are demanding action.
Recently, Kári Stefánsson, a former
Harvard neurology professor and
founder of deCode Genetics, convinced
86,500 people—over 36 percent of the
electorate—to sign his petition calling
on the government to commit to an
increase in healthcare spending from 8.7
to 11 percent of GDP. And it seems that
even if not everyone on the list agrees
that the target should be set at that exact
level, it is obvious that more money is
needed, and people see the petition as a
way to express that view.
This demand can, of course, be
seen as too simplistic and unrealistic.
Iceland is not the only country where
health spending is not high enough.
According to the OECD, most countries
in the European Union reported real per
capita healthcare spending in 2013
below 2009 levels. And there is an
argument worth listening to, saying
that to announce a target for increased
spending can be counterproductive,
since it gives a signal to all parties that
there is money to be chased, and so
pharmaceutical companies raise their
prices, health staff want wage increases,
and costs rise across the board. This is
what seems to have happened in the
years after the Labour government
came to power in the UK in 1997.
Spending was increased substantially,
but there was little evidence that servic-
es improved, because the increase was
announced upfront. The health service
is one of those areas where there is no
limit on how much money you can
spend. The question is how much is
enough.
SYSTEM BASED ON DONATIONS
In 1884, Reykjavík got its first hospital.
It was a wooden building with 14 rooms,
a total of 563 square meters, excluding
a small mortuary in the back yard. The
building also contained the country’s
medical school and a room for the public
to bathe in. Despite its size, the hospital
was underused since the poor couldn’t
afford treatment, and the better-off pre-
ferred to be visited by doctors in their
own homes. The fact that the poor
couldn’t afford treatment led doctors to
start a campaign for free general medical
care.
The cornerstone of a new national
hospital was laid by Queen Alexandra
of Denmark in 1926. And what a grand
vision the authorities displayed in fund-
ing a new hospital for the nation! Well,
that would be a nice story, but it’s not the
OPINION