At a time when the United States is trying to overhaul its healthcare system to provide more Americans with coverage, China is struggling with the fallout of abandoning its socialist model in favor of Western-style privatized medicine. Government efforts to modernize China's healthcare system and reduce Beijing's role have led to deep funding cuts for public hospitals. The results are familiar to many Americans, the Los Angeles Times reports: Patients with good health insurance or ample savings can get first-class treatment at the best medical facilities, while millions of the uninsured and poor live in dread of a serious illness that could bankrupt their families.
