This article from Kaiser Health News discusses and compares the U.S. health system from other developed countries.  Click below for full story and see what lessons the U.S. can learn.

A bit of history: Two decades ago, most of the developed world relied on the same sort of welfare-based, Medicaid-type system that the U.S. still uses. That is, if you were poor enough and sick enough, the state would provide some modest personal assistance. If you were middle class, you were on your own-that is, until you spent so much on care that you became poor enough to qualify for government aid.

Most developed countries recognized this system was both needlessly cruel and fiscally unsustainable. The U.S. tried to keep people off Medicaid by encouraging them to buy private long-term care insurance. It tried tax subsidies, a government marketing campaign, and an effort to better coordinate private insurance with public benefits. For the most part, it failed, and today, only about seven million Americans own private insurance.

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