In June of this year, AUPHA hosted seventeen faculty and students on a tour of the Dutch healthcare system. The six-day tour spanned all aspects of healthcare in The Netherlands from the individual mandate and how that works in operation to the role of the patient in the healthcare system, and even included a visit to the Dutch Flower Auction.
The timing of our visit could not have been better as it coincided with the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act. All 17 of the participants stood huddled outside of Catharina hospital on Thursday, June 28th awaiting for the ruling to appear on Lydia Middleton’s iPhone. Having seen how the individual mandate has succeeded in the Netherlands in bringing healthcare to the vast majority of the population, the announcement of the SCOTUS decision was particularly exciting.
Plans are now underway for a second study tour, this time in the United Kingdom, primarily London, where we will look at the NHS and health management issues in Britain.
Photos from the 2012 AUPHA Dutch Study Tour can be view here.