And a similar issue exists in Europe where most healthcare is paid for by the government. The value goes to the individual, but the costs paid for by the gover

And a similar issue exists in Europe where most healthcare is paid for by the government. The value goes to the individual, but the costs paid for by the governemnt. Locally in Finland the situation is way more perverse, without going into too much detail the money to pay for hospitals and higher level care comes from a different pool than what goes to GPs and local clinics. The second pool has been underfunded for years, causing many local clinics and GPs to refer patients (particularly old patients and those with multiple ailments) to hospitals and higher level care as the lower level care doesn't have the money to hire enough staff. This, in turn, puts patients into a higher level of care than necessary, causing not only increased costs on a per patient level, but on a system level. Not to mention the fact that a whole heap of elderly people are lonely, and simply visit the 'doc cause they're nice to chat to and they don't really pay for the visit. If you'd fund / develop more programs to e.g. have school and daycare kids do things with retired people, you'd probably have fewer lonely old pepople. If you'd better fund the local clinics, there's less need for more expensive higher level care.