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The Labor Party wants to stop the development of what they believe to be a two-part health care system, where your wallet and place of residence can determine what kind of health care you receive.
Now they want to make a drastic adjustment for the private ones, while the public hospitals will get more money.
The party will introduce VAT on private health insurance. They want to stop the system of free choice of treatment and make it more difficult for health professionals employed in the public sector to accept additional jobs with individuals.
It comes from a preliminary draft of a new party program that NRK has read.
– The objective is to strangle the private?
– The goal is to strengthen the community hospital, responds Støre.
He believes that developments in recent years have led to money being raised from public hospitals to finance the start-up of private services.
– It weakens the supply of the community and drains the hospitals for professionals. If this development continues, hospital services for Norwegians will be poorer, he says.
Private at the expense of the state
Støre believes that the free choice of treatment regime implies a free right of establishment for individuals.
In addition to the public and private hospitals with which they have an agreement, the patient can receive treatment from private individuals approved by Helfo.
PRIORITIZATION: Free choice of treatment does not give health professionals good priorities, says Jonas Gahr Støre.
Photo: Katrin Hellesnes / NRK
– The system is bureaucratic and means that private therapists have the right to operate at the expense of the State detached from professional management, as long as someone wants their services. It does not give health professionals good priorities, she says.
Patients should still be able to choose between public hospitals and their private or non-profit contractual partners, according to Støre.
-We will continue with this, because then a professional prioritization is made of what private offers we will have, he says.
Quality and offers for more
The Labor Party believes that public hospitals have starved under the current government. Core funding must be increased, there must be a greater opportunity for the use of new methods and drugs, the party believes.
– For the Labor Party, it is important that a stronger welfare state can offer an offer to more people. We get new drugs, new technology, new forms of treatment. They should be accessible to everyone, says Støre.
– We will organize our hospitals so that they can develop modern services; Maximum quality and maximum capacity. Cost. So we have to prioritize it, and we do it, he says.
Wait time
Today, Norwegian hospitals have to wait a long time to get the latest drugs, according to Chief Physician Åslaug Helland of Oslo University Hospital (OUS).
– In Norway in 2018, 593 days were spent giving access to new anticancer drugs. The corresponding figure in Denmark was 67, Helland says.
– The problem, from my point of view, is that some patients do not have access to good new drugs, while those with good finances have access in the private sector.
At the same time, it emphasizes that the vast majority of patients receive the best available treatment.
– It is important to know that the Norwegian health system in general is very good, he says.
No ban
It is not relevant to prohibit public employees from having extra work in private, according to Støre. But both the labor agreements and the organization of the hospital business can be changed, believes the party leader.
– We believe that hospitals can be active for several hours a day and have an outpatient clinic open for much of the day, he says.
– It is important to ensure that those who work in the community hospital and are paid for it, make their effort in those hospitals, he adds.
More expensive health insurance
The proportion of Norwegians with private treatment insurance or medical insurance has increased dramatically in recent years. More than 600,000 people have such insurance, according to figures from Finans Norge. The vast majority are insured through the employer. Just over 60,000 have purchased insurance on their own.
The Labor Party will introduce VAT on such insurance, which will therefore be more expensive.
– We want your most important health insurance to be the National Insurance Scheme. What you pay as part of the splicing team. If you happen to have to think that in addition to that I have to buy private insurance to have someone help me at the front of the queue, then we are on the wrong track, says Støre.
Less freedom of choice
Health Minister Bent Høie (H) believes that the consequence of Labor Party policy will be less freedom of choice for the patient.
READY FOR THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN: Health Minister Bent Høie (H) welcomes the debate on the health service.
Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes / NRK
– Only those with a thick wallet have the opportunity to choose private hospitals.
There will be no fewer private hospitals with Labor Party policy, they just won’t be available to most people, he says.
Høie believes that free choice of treatment, where the public sector bears the bill, is important. No less important for drug addicts and those with mental health problems who want other methods of treatment than those offered by the public sector.
Few need health insurance
– The Labor Party forgets that freedom of choice is a value in itself, says Høye.
He believes that free choice of treatment and other rights of the patient mean that very few people need health insurance.
– But if we get Labor Party policy, in which free choice of treatment is eliminated and the private sector is not allowed to become part of the public offering, there will be a greater need for health insurance that will be even more expensive, and only for those with good finances, says Høie.
