The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

Monique A. “Nikki” White, a citizen of the United States, contracted a form of lupus and died at the age of 32 due to an inability to access healthcare. White did not qualify for Medicaid, due to having too much income, but she also couldn’t afford “the drugs and doctors she needed to stay alive” (1).

More than 20,000 non-elderly Americans die each year from treatable medical problems due to an inability to afford a doctor. Hundreds of thousands face bankruptcy each year “because of medical bills” (2). The healthcare reform bill that Congress passed in 2010, nicknamed “Obamacare,” would still leave around 23 million Americans without health insurance. Efforts to expand coverage are met with accusations that socialized medicine is exemplary of socialism. As a result, most other wealthy, industrialized nations have longer life expectancy, better recovery rates, and lower infant mortality rates than the US.

Contrary to what many Americans believe, most industrialized nations have health care without living in a socialist society. Reid set out on a global quest to find out what other countries can teach Americans about health care—that is, if Americans are sincere about granting medical treatment to everyone, regardless of income status.