Foreign Fix

There are some aspects of healthcare in the U.S. that parallel systems found in other countries.


While some features are comparable to Canada & Spain, the World Health Organization compiles statistics about healthcare globally and consistently finds (in total) both Canada & Spain are rated higher in sucessful outcomes and lower in cost than the United States.

The American airwaves are full of political ads these days slamming the Canadian health care system. The ads say in Canada, care is delayed or denied and some patients wait a year for vital surgeries. Is the Canadian system really that bad? Sarah Varney of member station KQED in San Francisco traveled to Vancouver to find out.

Audio: NPR's Morning Edition August 10, Host: Steve Inskeep

Spain's single-payer health care system is ranked seventh best in the world by the World Health Organization. The system offers universal coverage as a constitutionally-guaranteed right and no out-of-pocket expenses — aside from prescription drugs. Patients do complain, however, about the long wait to see specialists and undergo certain procedures.

Audio: NPR's Morning Edition August 19, Host: Steve Inskeep

Kristy recounts an experiece in Madrid from 4 years ago:

"I got pink eye (conjunctivitis) and all I had to do was to go to the farmacia down the road, point to my eye and the woman sold me prescription-strength eye drops for two euros... TWO. ($2.90) No scheduling a doctor’s visit. No examination. No twenty-dollar co-pay. No questions. Just immediate, effective, and cheap solutions. Eye cleared up in 24 hours. España, you’ve got yourself a life-long fan."

Bob speaks little or no Spanish, or the local dialect of Catalan spoken in Barcelona, but he asked to be assigned there by his international company, whose American Health Insurance carrier required him to pay over $400 a month out of pocket for the frequent doctor visits and drugs his chronic condition requires.

Like all who are in Spain legally, he has access to a full service local clinic, and the freedom to change doctors if he wishes. His total presciption drug cost per month is $15, about 10.32 euros.