The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper and fairer health care

Bringing to bear his talent for explaining complex issues in a clear, engaging way, New York Times bestselling author T. R. Reid visits industrialized democracies around the world–France, Britain, Germany, Japan, and beyond–to provide a revelatory tour of successful, affordable universal health care systems. Now updated with new statistics and a plain-English explanation of the 2010 health care reform bill, The Healing of America is required reading for all those hoping to understand the state of health care in our country, and around the world.
http://www.penguin.com/book/the-healing-of-america-by-t-r-reid/9780143118213

The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care is a New York Times bestseller from journalist T.R. Reid. Reid draws contrasts between health care systems in a half-a-dozen wealthy nations with the health care models followed in the United States, in a straightforward, easy to read narrative.[1][2] The countries whose systems are discussed are: France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and a specific example from India. Reid visited all these countries personally and claims to have chosen them since they exemplify specific kinds of health-care system models. The book also discusses transitions in the health care systems of Taiwan and Switzerland.

The major theme of the book is the contrasting of health care in other developed countries with health care in the United States. Reid is critical of the United States for not being able to provide guaranteed health services to all its citizens as is done in virtually all developed countries. Along with the study of various health systems, Reid also documents his attempts to get treatment for his shoulder during the journey described in the book. Reid finds suitable treatment in India, which has an out-of-pocket model, the only one Reid considers to be worse than the American system of health care.