One morning in China, one year in France: a tale of two health systems
You know those scammy ads that became a meme, the ones with “doctors hate him!” claiming some condition can be cured “with this one weird trick”?
Well, I may have found an actual weird trick that would undoubtedly make doctors hate me. A “trick” that could radically improve ailing Western health systems, and not by a small margin but by 3-4x.
Why would doctors hate it? Because it involves cutting consultation times down to 5 minutes, meaning doctors seeing not 3-5 patients an hour like it is currently the case in most Western countries, but closer to 12.
Now at this stage you’re undoubtedly telling yourself: “ok, that guy is certifiably insane, that’s just impossible, that would never work.” Except that it does, for 1.4 billion people - with health outcomes approaching (or even exceeding) those of the West's. A health system that’s one-tenth the cost per capita and costs half the share of GDP.
That’s right, I’m of course speaking about the Chinese health system.
Yes, I know. China. I can already hear the keyboards furiously typing. Bear with me though, or better yet, go spend a few minutes on YouTube searching for foreigners' experiences with Chinese hospitals. Not government propaganda, just regular people showing what happened. Check that guy, or him. Or her, who got a kidney stone in rural China while visiting as a tourist.
The recurring theme? Shock. Shock at not having to wait weeks for appointments. Shock at receiving diagnosis, tests, and treatment, all in the same morning. Shock at the insanely low fees (less then $3 per consultation). Coming from Western healthcare, they can't quite believe it.
The 5-minute consultation is just one part of a system. A system that’s stunningly efficient and actually delivers a surprisingly good experience for patients, once you get used to it.
I’d know, I experienced it myself over a hundred times throughout my 8 years there, in at least a dozen different hospitals across China, both in top-tier cities and remote rural areas, for myself, my kids or my wife. I also experienced Western healthcare aplenty, having grown up in France, and lived in Switzerland, the UK and the U.S.
In this article, I describe the key features of the Chinese health system - not to argue that the West should replicate it wholesale, but to ask an honest question: what if some of the things we take for granted about healthcare aren't nearly as inevitable as we think?
