Indonesia tries its hand at universal health care

by Claire Bolderson

Marketplace Morning Report for Tuesday, November 26, 2013

As the Obama administration continues its erratic roll out of health care reform, halfway around the world in Indonesia, authorities are getting ready to introduce the world's biggest universal health care program. It will cover all 240 million citizens and go into effect in 2014.

It will take five years to roll out completely but eventually the idea is that everyone will be able to get health care that is free at the point of use. It's an ambitious plan for a middle income country.

But as the BBC's Claire Bolderson found on the Island of Sulewesi -- one of the biggest in the Indonesian archipelago -- the country's health care system is already under strain.

source: www.marketplace.org