Lets broaden our horizons

The internal debate amongst U.S. citizens over the re-structuring of our health care system has been filled with much passion, doubt, and fear. Naturally, Americans have grown accustomed to our current infrastructure and the thought of change is feared. Instead of dealing with the uncertainty of what system will function best in our country, why not broaden our horizons and diligently study the success and failures of other countries. This idea of looking to our neighbors is nothing new, we are on a daily basis influenced by products from China, corporations in Europe, and automobiles from Japan. We have grown as a country by learning from the examples of others and have even in past wars, directly relied on the support of other countries. Health care reform should not be an exception. Congress should wisely chose high-ranking health care officials to the U.S. and attentively listen to their input into how they recommend change for us. A committee could be established to learn the models of other countries and develop an educated stance on how to reform ours. Thus, by learning the successes of other developed nations, we can become more informed in making our choices. This approach was a similar one employed by Taiwan; they were able to avoid downfalls and embrace successes of the health care systems from other countries. One thing is clear, the U.S. health care system will be undergoing drastic changes, do we want to gamble or do we want to make an educated decision?