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Under Mao Tse-tung, the country used a basic but effective network of so-called “barefoot doctors”. But since the introduction of sweeping economic reforms in the past two decades, everything has changed. The reforms have brought new wealth but the collapse of many local clinics and free services mean that poorer families simply can’t afford health care and serious illness can bankrupt them.

["Heathcare in China" via BBC World Service]

Heard this short radio documentary on BBC World yesterday when I was driving. I ended up stopping the car and sat in the parking lot of a store so I could finish listening. The funny thing about growing up along with your home country is you don’t notice your country’s peculiarities until much later. For me, the idea of walking in off the street and getting hospital care seemed entirely natural, until I went back to China a few years ago and found it really strange to go to the doctor as easily as I could buy candy. But then again, how else would China provide adequate health-care to 1.3 billion people?

This is actually part two of two in a series about health-care systems around the world. Part one is about health-care in the US and the UK.