Rodwin states the French health care system was ranked No.1 by the World Health Organization in 2000 (31). They gained this ranking through several factors, including "the French health care system combines universal coverage with a public-private mix of hospital and ambulance care, higher levels of resources, and a higher volume of service provision than in the United States, and yet France's health expenditures in 2000 were equal to 9.5% of its gross domestic product compared with 13.0% of GDP in the United States" (Rodwin, 2), the highest of any industrialized nation. Rodwin also notes that all residents are automatically enrolled with an insurance fund based on their occupational status and there are no limitations to access to specialists and hospitals (32). He states that France employs a National Health Care System based on the principles of liberalism (34). Although this system will not fit the democratic American way of life exactly, Rodwin believes the French plan is an important role model for the United States (34,39). To account for the differences between the health care delivery systems, Graig highlights cultural and historical influences on each system. For example, she argues that people in the United States tend to believe in the perfectibility of humanity, and this cultural trait helps explain why U.S. healthcare providers use more expensive technology and do more testing on their patients than those in other countries. She believes that the people in the United Kingdom have a cultural identity based on fatalism and they feel that some problems cannot be fixed. So, they are more willing to accept less availability to high-tech medical care. Rodwin and Graig both agree that another country's health care system cannot be applied to the United States and be successful. However, they also agree that we can learn from and take elements of other countries systems to build our own plan.
