The US spends more money per person on healthcare than any other country in the world. At the same time it is among one of the most inefficient systems compared to other Western countries in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy. Furthermore the US healthcare system is repeatedly being criticized for leaving a large part of the population completely without insurance, resulting in medical debt being the principal cause for personal bankruptcy. Consequently the US healthcare system has for long been an Achilles heel on the political agenda in the US.
Inspiration from Denmark
No matter whether a new reform will pass, the Obama administration has already taken certain measures to streamline the US healthcare system. In The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was passed in February 2009, 19 billion dollars were allocated for the development of electronic health records. The ambition is that all health records must be computerized by 2014. A number of studies have shown that Denmark is a world leader in digital care and consequently American policy makers have brought the Danish healthcare IT systems into focus. Not only do they want to find out how the US can benefit from the lessons learned in Denmark, they also want to find out whether there are parts of the Danish model which can be replicated in the US. This creates an excellent opportunity for Danish companies to claim a share of the 19 billion dollars. They just have to show themselves capable of taking advantage of the unique opportunities the US market is offering at this time.
A new healthcare reform?
These days a reform of the US healthcare system is on everybody’s lips. The House of Representatives as well as the Senate have both voted in favor of a new reform, however so far they have voted in favor of two different versions. The next step would have been to combine the two versions which again would have needed to be approved by the two chambers. This is the closest the US has been to a new reform in a very long time. All this was rendered possible by the fact that the democrats until now have been holding the absolute majority of 60 senators needed. Last week though, a republican won the Massachusetts senate election, replacing the deceased democrat Ted Kennedy, and as a result the democrats have lost their absolute majority. Consequently it will be almost impossible to pass the healthcare reform in its current form and magnitude. The top priority of the Obama administration, a large-scale healthcare reform, does therefore no longer look like it will become reality. There is no doubt that the democrats continuously will keep fighting for a reform to be passed, though it will be of a much smaller scale.