In Denmark the so-called “robustness commission” has announced its recommendations for “a more robust healthcare system”.

Denmark’s universal healthcare system is widely popular, doctors and nurses are among the most trusted professions and very few people would dream of moving towards the wasteful nightmare that is the American model. There are however challenges. An aging population means more demand for care and greater workers to carry out the care, recruiting enough healthcare workers is a challenge and those in the system experience having too many tasks. In addition significant regional and social inequalities in healthcare exists and the increasing cost of new treatments is straining the healthcare system.

Of course the recommendations doesn’t address price gouging by the medical-industrial complex. Instead, the chairman of the commission used today’s press event to fingerwag and blaming the public for having too much “hygge”, for drinking, smoking and eating too much.

The recommendations themselves are a mixed bag. Stove of it is reasonable enough but it has some huge red lights in it. Austerity dog whistles like “core services” is being blown and although part of the stated goal is to reduce inequalities, one of the principles introduced is that “everyone should not get the the same”. On the face of it this means that “resourceful” patients will have to do more stuff themselves without actually seeing doctors or nurses who will them have more time for the less resourceful patients. It sounds nice but it has the potential of pushing a development towards a more stratified system where the middle class has private health insurance while the service for the poor ends up becoming a poor service.

Another potentially concerning suggestion is that of reducing the amount of care given. Palliative care should start sooner for terminal patients than is the case today, patients should be “more included in their health care decisions” with the started goal of talking them out of the more invasive and expensive options. This can have it’s good sides, patients should give informed consent and there is little sense in stressing dying people with invasive treatments but again, in the hands of the neoliberal state it can easily become a reduction in service.

The worst suggestion is the formation of a so-called “prioritising commission” who will be takes with finding ways to cut care. The commission will be enabled to tighten criteria for receiving treatments dented too expensive for their effectiveness and will potentially be enabled to introduce copayments or to reduce today’s full coverage with a mere subsidy. This has the potential to be a significant blow to today’s principle of free and equal access to healthcare.

The government has already signals it’s willingness to form the “prioritisation commission”. The government has also decided to increase military expenditure to two percent of GDP and to replace every ship in the Danish navy.