> most hospitals are bankrupt for lack of running any profitable procedures
That's a very American problem due to having private hospitals...
That's a very American problem due to having private hospitals...
Besides, publicly funded hospitals and healthcare systems in general need money, too. If there's hardly any tax income anymore because there's hardly any taxable income anymore funds for publicly funded hospitals will dry up, too.
What happens to the European hospitals when tax income falls way below what the government needs to operate?
The healthcare budget is a rather small part of the total government budget, a small increase is probably too small to register on the radar. But if it does, one might assume that the government would rather keep healthcare running, especially given the circumstances, and cut money anywhere else.
To make a comparison for US readers. Healthcare in Europe is like freedom of speech in the US. It's deeply ingrained in each citizen and cannot be taken away.
According to the commonwealth fund[1], Germany spends over 10% of its GDP on providing health insurance. This insurance is funded by a tax on income.
If GDP contracts, and there are less income earners, this can become a very large part of the budget which would require cutting other programs. Obviously healthcare would be a priority. But in a country where people rely heavily on their government, cutting out social programs will really hurt.
> Tax income is already way below spending. Countries are going deeper and deeper in debt every year.
This is what I am concerned about. Governments fund their debt by selling bonds. In the USA, roughly 70% of the federal debt is in the form of bonds held by the public. If people stop buying bonds (because their returns are awful right now, or because people have much less income to be investing), then the governments of the world cannot continue to operate the way they have been.
[1] https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/germany...