The Netherlands: Rutte Government under fire over costly healthcare and educational student loan programs - by RM

The Netherlands privatized Healthcare and Educational programs are not proving to be one of  the Dutch PM's Rutte success stories. As a matter of fact, they are both a disaster, too costly and worst of all undemocratic.

It seems that Mr. Rutte and some of his colleages in the Dutch Government don't seem to be aware that education and healthcare, are not, and can never be seen as marketable commodities.

They are a basic democratic right for everyone, poor or rich, and must be free and widely available to all citizens.

The present privatized health and educational programs, applied by the Dutch Government and a few other Governments in the EU, and around the world, are not only undemocratic, they are also proving to be a financial barrier in providing proper education and healthcare to every level of the population, and when all is said and done, actually do not benefit the overall economy.

It is regrettable that some countries, including the Netherlands, have turned these basic human rights, related to education and healthcare, into marketable commodities.

Almere-Digest

Dutch Government Planned Student Loan Program Could Fail Based On US Experience

As the costs of higher education continue to skyrocket across the USA and Europe, the student loan debt bubble in America is reaching unprecedented heights as more and more young adults are not able to repay their loans.

A new analysis from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in America  found that only half of the more than $1 trillion in student loan debt is being repaid. Specifically, only 42 percent of direct student loans are in repayment while 60 percent of Federal Family Education Loans are in repayment.

The CFPB also found that 13-14 percent of borrowers are defaulting on their loan, which will have secondary effects of making things like buying a home or a car that much more difficult. Experts have said this could create an entire generation of students who can’t achieve the American dream.

An additional 18 percent of former students are either in deferment, putting off paying the loan, or in forbearance because they don’t make enough money to be able to pay the loan and make payments on the rest of their bills.

The CFPB said there are several ways to reduce payments including a plan called Pay As You Earn where payments are equal to 10 percent of your income above the poverty line and after 20 years any remaining balance is forgiven.

The main issue with the government-backed student loans, however, is that these loans have created an education bubble. Both Stafford loans and private bank loans are given to essentially anyone who applies, and this has inflated the cost of education overall. On an individual level, even if a person was to declare bankruptcy later in life, his or her student loans will still stick.

Therefore, banks can make risky loans to students because they know that the government will still back those loans. In addition, with the ease of loan dispersal, students feel less of an incentive to choose degrees that will allow them to easily pay back their student loans and may instead choose programs with less job security.

Unlike 30-50 years ago, it’s nearly impossible for students today to graduate on time without the assistance of student loans or military grants. While scholarships can be a viable answer for some students—particularly those who are eligible for need-based financial aid—the majority of students can’t rely on scholarships and grants alone. So not only are loans necessary to achieve academic goals, but the costs of those goals are increasing as a result of government-backed loans. Like during the housing market crisis, prices are rapidly inflating, but people who aren’t particularly good loan candidates are still getting them because banks know that if borrowers default, then the government will bail them out.

Pursuing higher education is a valuable endeavor and can definitely result in a higher quality of life in the long run. For many, loans are the only way to afford an education. But the ease of receiving government loans is a double-edged sword that both expedites the process for people with solid career prospects and encourages risky behavior by making it easier for students to get degrees that won’t necessarily be valuable in the job market. While the increase in student loan rates is a hardship for most, what may be an even greater hardship is the difficulty of making ends meet later in life, when crippling student loan debt prevents individuals from getting what they want from their careers.

The Dutch government should take note of the above, given the very negative results achieved with the program in the US.

For more: EU-Digest