OECD: In Europe, the Access of All Citizens to Health Services Remains a Challenge

While government health insurance champions in America as well as in Europe would have you believe that the European social model is, basically, the alpha and the omega of the situation and that the Europeans have attained, or have come closest to attaining, a perfect society, a recent study reveals that it turns out that, to quote a Le Monde headline,

In Europe, the access of all citizens to health services remains a challenge

Figures in two tables from the OECD and from EU-SILC compare the numbers of people dissatisfied with their health care experiences, the poorest 20% per country on the left-hand side and the richest 20% on the right. Only to a die-hard liberal should it come as a surprise that the poor are far less satisfied with their health care services than the rich, and that in every country in the EU (three members of whom have dissatisfaction totals exceed 10%).

People are dissatisfied because of irritants such as distance and/or a lack of transport means (purple) or such as excess waiting periods (red). But throughout the EU, the main complaint for the poor concerns costs that are too high (orange).