So yesterday when I was talking to one of my Swedish friends we broached the subject of American politics, since he's aware that I'm pretty well-versed in it.
The fact that Obama's planning to reform health-care hasn't passed unnoticed in Sweden or anywhere else around the world. Last week, Svenska Dagbladet, their second-largest paper, ran a cover story on Remote Area Medical (Similar to coverage they got on "60 minutes" last year), with the headline "The final option for sick Americans". Bias? Well, it's actually a right-wing newspaper (by their standards).
So as we got into the subject and I tried to explain the shortcomings of the American system, and I reiterated my belief that the Swedish system is superior in almost every way.
But you try telling them that.
If you're thinking my friend's a conservative, you'd be correct. But a conservative by Swedish standards, which actually puts him well to the left of most American Democrats. No, I'd say the main reason for his dissent was cultural, rather than political.
Nordic folks just aren't like us. They're silent and self-deprecating; we're boisterous braggarts in comparison. You can seldom pay them a compliment without them reflexively attempting to balance the equation by making a self-deprecating remark.
The Swedish comedian (yes, there is such a thing) Adde Malmberg made the same observation:
Why can't we ever take a compliment? When a foreign tourist says [in English], 'Your country is so beautiful!' we always have to reply [w/ a heavy Swedish accent]: 'Yes but we have many problems too; many elderly have to wait weeks for their höftledsoperation! [hip-replacement surgery]'
I mean, when we go to Austria and tell them 'Oh the Alps are so lovely!' they don't answer us with [In German] 'But I must remind you that Hitler was born here!'
(the fact that their stand-up comedians can get away with making trilingual jokes is something I'll have to compliment them on next time)
So after explaining that the current American health-care system sucks and is unsustainable, the fact that my Swedish friend replied "Yes, well our health-care system sucks too." would have been entirely predictable regardless of his political leanings.
On the other hand, he recognized that I'm in a far better position than he is to make that judgment. He's visited the US, but has no direct experience of American health-care. Of course, most of the people touting the US system as "the best health-care system in the world" have no personal experience of any other system, either.
As Lincoln said, "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge". That's a universal truth, I think. The cultural difference is Americans become confident their system is good, where Swedes become confident their system is bad.
"Well, look." I say, "you do agree that most Swedes do get at least adequate health-care? They get sick, they go to see a doctor, they get more or less the care they need. Right?" He agreed. "And you do agree" I continued (making a point I've made here in greater detail earlier) "that it doesn't really matter if it's being paid for through taxes, or through your employer, or whatever.. In the end, it's always ends up being us, the consumers, who end up paying?". "That's true." he said.
"But," I said, "over 50 million Americans are uninsured. They're not getting the health-care they need. Yet we're paying almost twice as much as you are, overall!". Predictably, he answered: "Well, the insured people must be getting better care than we are, then."
"That would be an explanation, but there's no reason to believe that that's the case. I mean, you guys have a longer life expectancy..." he interrupts "That probably doesn't have anything to do with health-care. Americans are fat." I acknowledged that but pointed out "That's another thing, the American system by design prioritizes short-term profit over long-term savings. There's much less financial incentive to provide preventative health-care. Sweden does a much better job of that." "I don't think we're so good at that.." was the inevitable response.
"Well, you spend more money on it, for sure. And while we're spending the most on health-care, nobody's ranking the quality of US health-care as the best. Not the WHO. Nobody. Would you want Sweden to have a system like the American one?"
-"Of course not!"
Which more or less concluded the debate. I recognize the futility of getting a Swede to stop grumbling. I guess the final proof is that, for all the grumbling that they do, very few of them want to change much. To give a slightly stereotyped summary of their political spectrum on health-care:
Swedish left: Single-payer public health-care and public hospitals!
Swedish right: Single-payer public health-care and private hospitals!
Swedish middle: Both!
The difference in perspectives comes into that as well. To the Swede, that's a world of difference in opinion. To us yanks, though, it's a consensus we could only dream of.
(Naturally I realize it's easier to create consensus in a small country, but single-payer or universal health-care could be said to be a European consensus. And that's a lot more people than the USA.)