The World’s Best Health Systems Are Now Failing Their Patients

Originally published on Bloomberg.com on April 4, 2023 as “The World’s Best Health Systems Are Now Failing Their Patients.”

The coronavirus pandemic exposed weaknesses in the European Union’s much-envied health care systems, and time is running out to fix them.

As recently as 2000, France, Italy and Spain were ranked as having the best health care systems in the world. But more than two decades and a global pandemic later, that picture has changed. Stalled-out funding combined with the rising costs of caring for aging populations now mean that European systems are struggling to fulfil their promise of fair and equitable cradle-to-grave services.

And in the near future, there may be fewer front-line workers around to help correct course.

Last year, the World Health Organization released a report describing the aging of health care professionals in Europe as a “ticking time bomb.” In France, nearly half of doctors are over the age of 55. In Italy, a medical association predicts that about 100,000 public-sector physicians will resign or retire within the next four years due to age.

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Reported with Naomi Kresge, Flavia Rotondi and Samy Adghirni.