Dear FRONTLINE,

I found it interesting that so many countries offer insurance, that neither make a profit on healthcare, nor exclude individuals from healthcare. Due to a pre-existing condition, I am unable to obtain healthcare on my own, and I am about to lose my employer-sponsored group coverage. What is this country thinking of? Can we afford to allow our citizens to not have basic health care with preventative, dental, vision, and other care for all? In this country healthcare is not a right, it is a privilege, with the wealthy and the healthy carrying the privilege, and the middle class, poor, and sick paying the ultimate price.

Michelle Gutierrez
Lexington, KY

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was a bit dumbstruck at the lack of coverage of something germane to our health care system/market in the USA. That would be the representative comparison of legal action taken against the various physicians within the various systems in place in these wealthy democracies. In a system where the government regulates every facet of healthcare delivery, how does it deal with malpractice or unavoidable problems that people in the US seem compelled to force suit over?

Lawrence Mayer
Staten Island, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

How can I get copies of this on disc?

Robert Cupp
Johnson City, TN

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

Click here to purchase this report from ShopPBS.org.

Dear FRONTLINE,

This was pure propaganda. Nobody in this country is denied health care. Even illegal immigrants get the best medical care in the world paid for by hard working Americans. It is a one-sided story assuming the worst about our system. It is a disgrace that PBS gets any tax dollars and it will not get an extra donation from me.

zed Edmister
raleigh, NC

Dear FRONTLINE,

This was an exceptional piece of medical journalism. As a provider of medical services (Physical Therapy) I would welcome the changes in our system to make it more like those of Japan, Germany or Taiwan. The program gave me a sense that the leaders of those countries truely value their citizens by trying to keep them healthy at a low cost. That makes me, as an American, kind of embarrassed.

Rob Burbella
Cranford, New Jersey

Dear FRONTLINE,

Why wasn't France used as an example. It it too good? What are its flaws. I'd really like to know.

bethlehem, Pennyslvnia

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

T.R. Reid discusses why he chose the nations featured in this report -- and what France does well -- in this Q&A.

Dear FRONTLINE,

Fantastic piece. Thoughtful, organized and proactive in spirit. Thank you.

Thomas Caso
Baltimore, Maryland

Dear FRONTLINE,

One question this program never addressed are the legal issues surrounding medicine in these countries. In the US, defensive medicine is a large percentage of the cost. Unless there are legal framework changes to back up some form of universal coverage, the issue of cost over-runs in the US system will remain unresolved.

Moreover, because these countries look at health care as a right, they also look at the training of doctors as a necessity. Any changes to the US system must allow physicians to pay back their extensive loans.

Insurance companies, drug companies, and frivolous lawsuits must also be reformed for the betterment of society.

jason viehland
Boston, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am watching the episode and have experience with Nationalized Health. I was posted in the UK for 2.5 years and was able to use the NHS. My children automatically were seen at the local office and vaccinated for what was required at no cost. All prescribed medications were free. For adults the medication had a copay of 6.50 GBP. During our posting their my wife developed MS. After she saw the GP in our village, she was refered to a specialist which scheduled her for MRIs and did not pay a penny. She had introvenous steroids administered at the hospital and did not pay anything. She ended up seeing the leading research doctor in the UK for MS. She was also given rehabilitation equipment to help her get by with her growing disability. Before we were set to leave the UK and return back to the US, my wife's doctor proposed a course of chemotherapy treatment. This would have included all of the testing and would not have cost anything to us. My experience with the NHS was one that cared for patients first and we did not have any issues with the NHS. Since coming back to the US my wife has had trouble finding a good neurologist and has paid a lot of money on MRIs and other tests. The course of treatment she received was also a chemotherapy treatment and we had to pay alot of money for all of the tests and the treatment, roughly $500.00 every three months over our insurance coverage. My wife's neurologist recommended a drug treatment that would be taken by infusion once a month. The insurance company covers only 90% and each month this would cost us over $350.00. This would eat up all of our monthly spare income after our bills. My wife did not want to go into debt for this, so she has opted to not take a drug that could help her. Unlike a lot of other people who have MS, and seem functional. My wife went from a slight tingle in the legs to being stuck in a wheelchair in just 15 months. We support some sort of National Health System. Even the Japanese system seems okay based on the show.What is interesting is how nations have been able to scrap their current system that is dysfunctional and incorporate a new system taht works and provides health insurance for everyone.

New Bern, NC

Dear FRONTLINE,

Being a student of epidemiology I thought the Frontline program tonight would interest me. It infuriated me! First of all, Health care economics is so much more complicated than what was presented. Secondly, The presenter of the program kept referring to how great a nation's health record was and attributed that (solely) to how great the health care system was. That information is severely skewed. Health care itself is NOT THE BE ALL END ALL OF HEALTH STATUS! There is something called the 12 determinants of health that collectively contribute towards the health of a population (and health care is only one of these determinants). I think people have to realise that a) you cannot fix a health care system simply by throwing money at it and b) You cannot increase the health status of a nation simply by offering free health care. It is alot more complicated than that.

Winnipeg, Manitoba