OECD: Finland must reform health care system to address needs of elderly
Finland needs to makegreater reforms to its healthcare system to meet the demands of itsrapidly ageing population, the Organisation for Economic Cooperationand Development (OECD) said on Wednesday.
Problems include increasing drugcosts, the system of national health insurance reimbursement, waitingtimes for medical care and a shortage of staff, the OECD said in areport.
The problems are likely to worsen in the future for Finland, which has the fastest ageing population in the European Union.
“Consequently the OECD encouragesFinland to pursue more structural reforms of the health system in orderto ensure financial sustainability and good value for money,” it said.
The report made more than 20 recommendations to help make savings, taking into account quantity and quality of services.
“Technological change and risingexpectations will be putting the health system under increasing strainin the future. Also, Finland will be facing the problem of an ageingpopulation sooner than many other countries and this poses a greatchallenge for the Finnish health system,” the OECD said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)has previously called on Finland to improve the efficiency of itspublic sector to cope with the budgetary pressures that will increaseas its population ages.
The IMF estimates 20 percent ofFinland’s 5.2 million people will be over 65 years old by 2015, versus15 percent of the population in 1998, and more Finns have retired thanhave entered the job market since 2003.
The OECD said Finland could cut drugcosts by 6 percent annually by introducing pharmaceutical budgets formunicipalities and more cost-effective prescribing, using some of thesavings to employ more doctors.