"The question of the democratization of civil society is posed rather concretely in Finland. The reform of social and healthcare services (sote-uudistus) recently presented by the Finnish government aims at the incorporation (yhtiöittäminen) of basic healthcare providers. In other words, basic healthcare institutions that so far have been in the public sphere (providing services instead of commodities) are to be transformed into profit-making enterprises governed by corporate law. It’s nothing less than the wholesale privatization of the basic healthcare system. It doesn’t take to be a genius in public governance to grasp the effects of this measure in terms of the democratic rights of the citizens: corporate law deals a heavy blow to the transparency of the services (corporations have the right to keep their books closed, among other things), and the average citizen’s capacity to influence the provision of these services is practically null. Where the market rules, there’s no democracy.
Since Juha Sipilä’s executive justifies this policy with “freedom of choice”, socialists must respond that we have nothing against freedom of choice. On the contrary, a socialist programme for the next local elections in Finland must propose the deepening of democracy and transparency in the management of public healthcare. For example, putting forward a new model of management of public healthcare institutions according to which users and workers wield effective power in the organs of administration. Thus, users would have the freedom to define what services they want and how they should be provided to the public. That’s real freedom of choice, not the farcical notion presented by the government."
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