To see where America is going, it might make sense to see what the rest of the industrialized world is doing.

Frontline, the PBS television program, from time to time decides not to slant the argument but to merely present an overview. The recent episode entitled….Sick Around the World , Health Care History in 5 Capitalist Countries. In Sick Around the World, FRONTLINE teams up with veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid to find out how five other capitalist democracies — the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland — deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. The series has been broken down into five short parts in all which are all here.

I’m certainly not a fan of government taking over health care, but do agree that something needs to be done. When they mention in this piece about 700,000 Americans going into bankruptcy every year due to medical conditions, it really makes you think. The point also about our crippling administrative overhead at 24% is just a disgrace. Don’t claim to have the answer, but this program does shed a decent light on the subject. Part 2 – Japan

Part 3 – Germany

Part 4 – Taiwan

Part 5 – Switzerland

Total time is about an hour.
The supporting overviews are at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/view/

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