In Japan, residents go to the hospital three times more often than Americans, spend more days in the hospital and use more pharmaceuticals—yet Japan spends about half as much per capita on health care as the United States. Perhaps the U.S. Secretary of Health should attend a screening of Sick Around the World, a Frontline film that explores how five other capitalist democracies provide health care.
Besides Japan, the PBS film looks at the successes and failures of health care systems in Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Each country has its own brand of national health care, so residents spend far less than Americans for their health care. Switzerland is an example of successful health care reform in a highly capitalist country with powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies—much like the U.S.
May 8, 7 p.m., Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic St., Northampton, (413) 586-4950, www.northamptoncommittee.org.
