Trevor Lewis of - Medical Device Consultancy - 13:40:03pm Mar-4th

During the webinar I (TL) did refer to Switzerland, although Sweden’s model is also very interesting and may be even more relevant to “socialised medicine” than Switzerland.
A good starting place for understanding the interest in Switzerland’s healthcare system, especially from America is “Swiping Ideas from the Swiss”, an article was published on 1Mar10 http://healthcare.change.org/blog/view/swiping_ideas_from_the_swiss
For further detailed background please see the WHO site that provides really helpful information on all countries. For Switzerland go to: 'Health Care Systems in Transition - Switzerland'� published by the European Observatory on Health Care Systems This was published in 2000 and does provide some historical background p5-7 and you will see that Switzerland has been struggling with an adequate and appropriately funded health care system since around 1890; this is not a new problem. The Health Care Reforms and Conclusions (p71-78) provide more insights but this is a very different model to the UK. It is a managed care type approach implemented in a very European way. It has been relatively successful.
Another useful article is The Swiss Healthcare System (2002) by Civitas that includes Swiss Lessons for UK Policy-Makers
Please see an American view on Switzerland that is cited by many interested parties: Inside the World's Finest Heath Care System