Good Morning!

I want to welcome you all to this Nordic Conference on Welfare in Times of Crisis. May I welcome, in particular, the speakers and those who have traveled from abroad.

It is very valuable to have a forum like this to enable us to share the knowledge and experiences from previous crisis in other counties.

Dear guests!

We have experienced difficult circumstances in the global economy for the last year that has affected us all. As most of you know, Iceland was among the first countries to be hit.

In the years leading up to the crisis we moved pretty fast and based a large part of our economy on a fast growing bank sector that wasn’t solely grounded in reality. To some extent our values and beliefs in our own ability became tainted and the “more can never be enough” mentality shaped our lifestyle and culture. One can argue that many lost touch with the values of contentment and humility.

“I” came before “we”.

Iceland was not only among the first countries to be hit by this crises: It hit us extremely hard.

Since then we have seen a steep rise in the unemployment rate, many individuals have lost their savings, and pension funds have been badly hit. The full cost of the crisis is yet to be determined and one of our concerns is what will eventually be the social costs and the effects on the health of the public of Iceland.

It will take years and decades before we can see the whole picture of the effects of the crisis on health, however, we are following closely every indication that is available to us. The Director General of Health is collecting data on a regular basis on the methods that our health care institutions are using when downsizing. Thus, we will be informed about difficulties and weaknesses in our system and therefore hopefully be able to amend those as effectively as possible. We are mainly concerned about equal access and quality of care, both core values that we have based our system on, and we will do our utmost to protect during these difficult times.

We are also observing all ´red flags´ that appear. These can be from our statistical analyses, from anecdotal stories or from our surveillance system. Until now, we have not seen a great change in copayment or out of pocket payment. However, copayment is getting more and more difficult for many, and the burden of the cost can be too much in many instances. It is our role to be on the outlook for these cases, to know them and to restructure and rebalance our system to meet the needs of those that need protection.

But health care also needs to be seen in connection with other aspects of society, we need to look at an even broader picture.

With the Parliamentary elections last May the Government got a clear mandate to prioritize values of equality, social justice, solidarity, sustainable development, gender equality, moral reform and democracy in Iceland.

Furthermore, in the Government’s Coalition Platform emphasis is placed on fostering a Nordic welfare society in Iceland, where collective interests take precedence over particular interests.

We are making every effort in protecting the social welfare and the public services available to our people. Our guiding principle that determines our prioritization is to protect the situation of children and their families, together with those persons who are most vulnerable in the community.

In my opinion, it is very important to ensure that individuals and their families that are coping with the adverse affects of the crisis, are not threatened with losing their homes and livelihood.

In an article by Dr. David Stuckler, who is a speaker here today, and his colleagues that was published in the Lancet this summer (July 8 2009), they identify how governments might reduce adverse effects of the impact of the economic crisis on population health.

They state that fairly large and unexpected rises in unemployment might have a significantly worse effect on suicides and alcohol-related deaths than might slow rises in unemployment, especially in people of working age. Their findings suggest that active labour market programmes that keep and reintegrate workers in jobs could mitigate some adverse health effects of economic downturns.

The Government has already undertaken action to constrain the growth of unemployment. For example a variety of job creation programmes have and will be launched. We are also meeting the consequences of unemployment and financial difficulties with concerted co-operation and consultation between the state, local authorities, social partners and NGOs.

We have for example encouraged consultation and co-operation between all parties involved in public welfare in Iceland, and in February this year a welfare monitoring group (velferðarvaktin) was established that has served as a model in this respect. You will hear more of it´s work and findings later today from Lára Björnsdóttir, chair of the Welfare Watch.

Dear Guests!

The crisis has impacted our society as a whole and our health care system is there no exception as we have had to cut down our health expenses heavily this year and even more in 2010.

Our response to this has been to start the formulation of an overall strategy with the aim of reducing the cost of health care services and utilize funding more rationally with the objectives of equality, good access, quality, security and cost-efficiency.

The framework for expenditure decisions is based on these objectives with emphasis on job protection and salaries rebalance. Every effort is being made to protect low-income earners and those who are most vulnerable.

This strategy will assist us in our decisions on economizing and cost-efficiency measures instead of across-the-board cuts.

Dear Guests!

In spite of all our actions we still have not fully answered the question on what to cut and what not to cut when protecting the welfare of our nations.

We need to find together the answers on which elements of the social welfare are indispensable and what must survive even the worst crisis.

A conference like this one today is well suited to share knowledge and experience and move us a step forward in answering this question

Finally,

I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those who have organized this seminar.

Like I mentioned previously it is very valuable to have a forum like this to be able to share the knowledge and experiences from previous crisis in other counties.

But it is not less valuable to be able TO USE and IMPLEMENT this knowledge and experience for the good of our society.

I wish us all a fruitful discussion today.

Thank you!

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