Healthcare in the Netherlands
A 2008 article in the journal "Health Affairs" suggested that the Dutch health system, which combines mandatory universal coverage with competing private health plans, could serve as a model for reform in the US. However,
an assessment of the 2006 Dutch health insurance reforms published in Duke University's "Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law" in 2008 raised concerns. The analysis found that market-based competition in healthcare may not have the advantages over more publicly based single payer models that were originally envisioned for the reforms:
Healthcare in the Netherlands
Waiting lists in the Netherlands increased since the 1980s due to budgets imposed on the hospital sector although waits remained low compared to many countries . Several changes were implemented to reduce waiting times by increasing supply of hospital care. In 2001, fixed hospital budgets were replaced with (capped) activity-based payments to hospitals. In addition government limits which had lengthened waits by limiting the number of hospital specialists eligible for payment from Social Health Insurance funds (covering 2/3s of the population) was removed. Mean waits for all inpatient cases fell from 8.6 weeks to 5.5 in 2003, and from 6.4 to 5.1 weeks for outpatient cases.