One Other “Swedish Factor” Paul M. Forgot To Mention: National / Universal Healthcare.

Paul M. does finally admit tonight that the US is likely in very deep trouble, if belatedly so, on COVID-19 trendlines — and pandemic mitigation.

He tries to “happy up“… the ominous math, a bit — by citing the example of Sweden — where early on, there were high death rates (per capita), due in no small part to no enforced lockdowns (think Texas and Florida). And now (he observes)… Sweden has just recently either started to decline, on absolute death-rate basis, or at least flatten-out, relative to the still-rising overall incidence rates there.

He suggests that “maybe” the COVID-19 lethality is declining overall, globally (there is no reliable evidence of that), due to biological factors. But it could ALSO well be — due to the fact that all Swedish citizens get essentially unlimited low cost health care (but pay for it in a more than 57 per cent tax rate on personal income — above a fairly low threshold).

But that certainly means they get far superior health care, compared to that received by the average low wage (or unemployed) US worker, or the average middle to lower class US retiree. See, for example, this:

“…A Swedish patient never has to pay more than a total of SEK 1,150 ($127.00!) for medical consultations in the course of 12 months. Any consultations exceeding that amount are free of charge. For prescription medication, nobody pays more than SEK 2,350 ($285.00!) in a given 12-month period….”

So — any hope Paul M. may have, that the US will see its own current… explosion, in cases actually ultimately result in fewer deaths per capita, by September… is simply insane — and flies in the face of common sense, and the actual facts applicable to… Sweden — his own chosen example.

Now you know. I do get that he wishes the future wasn’t so bleak, given how he and his fellow Powerline boys kept chanting (in unison with Trump), that we would be rocking’ back into a hot economic recovery by August… but that just proves none of them can… science, for sh!t.

Onward, smiling, sadly — but smiling.