Blog Comments

I very much appreciate you sharing this information. I've always wondered what the Finnish system was like, having heard brief references to it by a Finnish friend. It's encouraging to know that at least one country is sane and civilized enough to provide this kind of health care. What a great break for you to be part of this system. Thank you and best of luck.

It is not a perfect system, but I think most people do better than under the US system. In both systems you have people who are unhappy, or get less than optimal care, but in general it is a lot better under this system than the US.

Because a lot of the profit motive is missing in health care, there are lots of unexpected benefits. For instance, when you have a baby you can stay in the hospital up to one week, if you want. It is not required, but it is available. The babies room with the mother and the father can be with the mother all the time, so it lets the mother get support and rest should she wish it. And in big cities such as Helsinki, there is a separate hospital just for giving birth, so there is little exposure to typical hospital germs. Obviously they can't do it out in the country where they might deliver one baby a week, but where they have the population to support it, they do.

Oh yes, mothers typically use a midwife when having a baby, but a doctor is always available if necessary. The Finnish infant mortality average for the last three years was tied for 5th lowest place with Norway, while the USA's was 35th, showing the Finnish to be doing a lot better than the USA.

Wow! So different than US. If we had that system here DH's care would be totally different. Thanks for writing about it.

Hi! I just found blogs on here. If you are still doing it, my DH wants to know about medical care and higher education. Thanks.