Israeli health care | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Before leaving Israel for Poland, Mitt Romney praised Israel "for being a pretty healthy nation." He noted that health care cost in Israel is 8 percent of its gross domestic product.

But in the United States, he noted, "We spend 18 percent of our GDP on health care. Ten percentage points more. … We have to find ways, not just to provide health care to more people, but to find ways to finally manage our health care costs."

Israel has a socialized health care system that is aggressively controlled and managed by the government. Israelis are required to have insurance, and they must choose from four competing nonprofit plans. That's why everyone has affordable health care and, according to Romney, is pretty happy and healthy.

Why can't we have a system like that?

Peter Bsumek

Cottonwood Heights