What improves public health are new methods in healthcare and preventive measures. More money or the nationalization of care are not as safe methods to make society healthier, believes Sven Bremberg, docent in social medicine.
More money for health care does not necessarily remedy the deficiencies in care. Nor do studies show that it is the organization of the healthcare system that determines how the care has the best effect, writes Bremberg on Dagens Nyheter’s debate page.
Rather, more people survive because preventive efforts and knowledge have improved.
The three biggest advances in recent decades are a reduction in cardiovascular disease, fewer traffic injuries and fewer pneumonias. All changes, according to Bremberg, can be explained by a combination of better care and preventive efforts.
In order for people’s health to improve, they must invest in new methods of treatment and preventive measures. It is by providing funds to test and spread new methods that people’s health can be improved, rather than simply increasing funding for healthcare, he writes.