Conversations on Health: How We Get There - with Stephani Shelton Stephani Shelton

Part 2: We continue to compare the US health care system with those of Sweden and other Nordic and European state-run systems. Does the US really have a mostly private system? Are countries already developing new, hybrid models as the cost of breakthrough medical procedures and designer drugs skyrockets? And can we really compare any single European country to our sprawling land of more than a hundred and 33 million people?

Episode #4: A Conversation with Richard Saltman, PhD, Health Policy Expert

Part 1: We're delving into the mix of private insurers, doctor groups, regional hospital systems, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Health Administration - plus a federal and state public health system- which together are considered the US health "system". How does the US "system" compare to those in Europe and the Nordic countries? You may be surprised at what you hear.

Most of us have had some experience with the mish-mosh of health care in the US which substitutes for a real health system – the European kind you learned about in episodes 1 and 2. Both dealing with health care in the Czech Republic.
But here in the United States – it’s not so simple.
If you’ve had to navigate the maze of doctors, hospitals,  health care alliances and insurance in the US – you probably have a horror story. Like my friend Pam Cookson.  who lives in St. Augustine, Florida.
Pam’s struggle to get a simple bladder infection treated - something millions of us have also done – is eye-opening. And sadly – likely to sound familiar to many of you.
 

You got an overview of the Czech Republic’s health care system in Episode 1. Unlike ours in the US - it’s a centralized system which is relatively similar to those in most European and Scandinavian countries. Every working adult pays into it. And everyone in the country has a similar level of care. So what happens when someone gets really, REALLY sick there? Meet Steve Fisher - an American writer who’s lived and worked in the capital city – Prague - for the past 30 years. A few years ago a freak infection almost killed him. It’s pretty dramatic.

Episode 1: As the COVID 19 pandemic waned, I set out to do a podcast series about health care - who has it and who hasn’t and why. I start by looking at other countries - and how we might do better in the US. So recently I sat down with an internationally known expert on health care - Dr. David Marx - in his office in Prague, Czech Republic. He heads the Department of Public Health of the Third Faculty of Medicine – part of the renown Charles University Medical program. I asked Dr. Marx to explain how the Czech Health System works and how it’s paid for.