This has been around for a while, but Sick Around The World, a FRONTLINE report with T.R. Reid., really caught my attention the other day. Essentially, it exposed the framework for the health care systems of five capitalist democracies: the UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland.

Each country has significant differences in how they approach providing health care — insurance in the UK is entirely controlled by the government while private industry provides insurance in Switzerland, for example. But one point stood out throughout the entire hour of viewing: no citizen of these countries has to worry about bankruptcy as a result of medical debt. On top of that, the UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland all spend a smaller percentage of their annual GDP on their health care systems than the US.

Photo by Akash K

The pre-reform Swiss system was very similar to current US system, so their road to reform seems most relevant to modern US health care debates. But each nation has plenty of interesting tidbits to add to the mix. To name a couple, Taiwan uses an innovative card that holds electronic copies of each patients medical records, increasing streamlined care, and Japan’s cost controls are so tight that a night in the hospital is less expensive than a night in a motel.

Of course, there are many more highlights from foreign systems, many of which could be applied current US reform proposals. In the US, it seems almost seems a tradition to find something good and make it better. By considering what works in other countries, the US can find a starting point for reviving its collapsing health care system.

At about an hour long, there are five chapters to Sick Around The World. Watch the documentary and get educated on what works well and what hardly works.