Frontline Documentary To Look At Universal Health Care Systems In Five Capitalist Countries

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 16 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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PBS on Tuesday will air a documentary titled "Sick Around the World" that examines the universal health care systems of Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom and how those systems are funded, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The documentary, a co-production of the Frontline newsmagazine and Palfreman Film Group, is hosted by Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid.

Reid said, "What I've found is that it's not all socialized medicine out there. Many countries have universal coverage with private insurance, private doctors, private hospitals," adding, "Market ideas that might work for us. But here's the thing: These capitalist countries don't trust health care entirely to the free market. They all impose limits."

The documentary will air Tuesday night on many PBS stations (Sapatkin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/14).

Reid will discuss the documentary online Wednesday morning on washingtonpost.com.

A kaisernetwork.org webcast of a Kaiser Family Foundation forum to preview the documentary will be available online after 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. The forum will feature a discussion moderated by Jackie Judd, Kaiser Family Foundation senior adviser for communications, and including: Reid; Tsung-Mei Cheng, host of the International Forum at Princeton University's International Center; and Uwe Reinhardt, professor of political economy, economics and public affairs at Princeton. Reid undertook the research and reporting on which "Sick Around the World" is based while he was a 2007 Kaiser Media Fellow.

Reid this week also is profiling the health care systems for a series of reports on NPR's "All Things Considered." The program on Monday included a report on Japan, including comments from Kono Hitoshi, a physician who runs a Tokyo hospital; Ikegami Naoki, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Keio School of Medicine; and Saito Hidero, president of Nagoya Central Hospital (Norris, "All Things Considered," NPR, 4/14). Audio and a partial transcript of the segment are available online.

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