Is Something Rotten in the State of Denmark?
Denmark has universal health care, exercise as a form of transportation, and significant wealth. Yet the Danes’ health status has steadily declined over the past 20 years, with life expectancy now almost as low as in the United States.
As far as I could tell from three days in beautiful Copenhagen, nothing—to paraphrase Shakespeare—is rotten in the state of Denmark. Well, almost nothing.
With a population of approximately 1.8 million, Copenhagen is a beautiful, immaculately clean city just a tad larger than Philadelphia. It is the largest city in Scandinavia and the capital of one of the richest nations in the world. Yet somehow Copenhagen feels small—its people are welcoming, it has few tall buildings, and its mix of wide avenues and narrow, timeworn streets gives this city a small-town feel.
Why, with all of its seeming public health successes—universal health care, exercise as transportation as a norm, and significant wealth—does Denmark find itself struggling in this key health indicator?
Health policy makers in Denmark, and in other countries afflicted by such poor health outcomes, have their work cut out for them. The Danish example shows that that even when medical care is high quality and free, disparities in health can persist, and calls attention to the ways in which a medical approach is just not enough. Integrating public health, medicine, and social justice (to redress social inequalities) into policy would be a wise place to start.
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