National Public Radio's Health Care For All

I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) when I was driving and I heard a story about an 89-year-old British World War II pilot. He was told by Britain's National Health Service that he would have to go blind in one eye before it would pay for treatment for his age-related wet macular degeneration, a disease of the retina that can progress rapidly. He eventually took on the government and got the treatment he needed.

This case could definitely happen in America, but I was struck by how the National Health Service of Great Britain pays for treatments. Like most people in Great Britain, the 89-year-old British World War II pilot gets his care through a tax-funded system. The physicians are paid by the government. The patients don't see a bill as long as the local government board approves the treatment. I was also surprised to find out that most treatments are approved.

I went to the NPR's website and found many other stories like this in the U.K., Germany, and other Western European countries (just click the links for different stories and click the links from different countries on top of the webpage): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91971293