Since traveling to Italy, the Skeptical Cardiologist has been in contact with Nicola Triglione, a native of southern Italy who completed his cardiology fellowship in Milan. As he has spent some time training in Seattle, and recently set up his practice in Milan, I asked him to compare and contrast the Italian health care system to our American system.

Triglione's comments on the Italian perspective follow: "Italy ranks among the World Health Organization's top 10 countries for quality health services. The Italian healthcare system is far from perfect, though, as this rating is mainly based on equality of access and health outcomes such as life expectancy and healthy life years." Let's take a closer look at the national healthcare system (NHS).