Although the Dutch are still working out the wrinkles, their health coverage system sounds promising. Our government officials should look into it (ahem… Hillary Clinton, anyone?). Their program has universal health coverage for all, along with a tightening of costs. The insurance services are delivered by private companies, not the government, which sounds good to me. It’s mandated that all citizens purchase coverage, and the best part is that no insurers are allowed to turn away applicants. From the www.takingnote.tcf.org article “The Dutch Health Care System” -

In the U.S., by contrast, if you don’t have employer-based coverage and must buy your own coverage, insurers can charge you more based on your medical history and risk profile. And in most states, if they consider you too risky, they can simply refuse to sell you insurance altogether.

Because Dutch insurers must take all applicants, the government “obliges each person who legally lives or works in [the Netherlands] to buy individual private health insurance.” If the government didn’t insist that everyone buy insurance, many people would wait until they were sick before they applied—safe in the knowledge that the insurer would have to take them, and cannot hike the premium. Full article here.