In the United States healthcare is dominated by private insurance companies. People who are neither poor nor old enough to qualify for federal health programmes may not be able to afford insurance and can fall through the net. The Clinton administration tried and failed to convince Congress to provide for the uninsured.
In Britain the National Health Service was introduced in 1948 when the government nationalised hospitals, put consultants on salaries and gave free access to healthcare - both family doctors and hospital services - funded from general taxation.
The NHS suffered under the Conservatives. In 1998 health spending per person was 83 per cent of the EU average. The UK has the EU's lowest number of doctors per capita. Waiting lists are considered long. But in England this July no patient was waiting more than 18 months, a very favourable comparison with Ireland.
In Denmark free hospital and general practitioner care is available to all, financed primarily by local taxes. Private hospitals have been opposed as inequitable.
In Germany "social solidarity" is a guiding principle of healthcare. About 90 per cent of the population is compulsorily insured by social insurance funds, with the remainder opting for private insurance. Surgical waiting lists are not common except for such procedures as transplants, where organs may not be available.
In Sweden healthcare is regarded as a public responsibility funded by local taxes and a national health insurance system. When a waiting-list problem emerged in 1992, the government delivered on a guarantee that no patient need wait more than three months for a procedure.